Child Sex Trafficking Outside My Front Door

Photo by Mike Linksvayer  

Prostitution in my Oakland childhood neighborhood is nothing new. I remember seeing the same, few women working corners near by for years. My neighborhood was no Beverly Hills, but for the most part the streets stayed quiet and the working-class families all knew each other. But the neighborhood has changed since I returned and not in a good way. Those women who worked the corners when I was kid have been replaced by children. You read right, CHILDREN. Just the other day I saw two girls in miniskirts, looking no older than 13, standing on the corners peeking inside cars driving by. One was black and the other I believe may have been white or Latina. Girls like them and a bit older are sprinkled throughout a 40-block stretch of International Blvd. known as “The Track.” How did my neighborhood, where I learned to ride my bike and attended Catholic high school, become a hot spot for child sex trafficking? It makes me sick that as I type this, a young girl who should be doing her homework or going to softball practice, is selling her body to make money for some pimp. And it disgusts me that some man or men are exposing these girls to STDs, rape, malnutrition and God knows what else. Many of these girls are forced into the trade through a tactic called “’guerilla pimping.” Girls are kidnapped, gang raped and beaten in prostitution. The children are in fear of their lives and don’t leave. And even if they “chose” to go that route, it doesn’t matter. They’re kids and from what I’ve been told by experts, don’t have family. Pimps prey on kids in foster care and group homes.

Pimp culture has always been a strong stitch in the fabric of Oakland’s ghetto culture. Rappers like Too $hort and Dru Down often had some sort of "pimps up, hoes down" theme in their songs. The whole situation makes me sad, but there’s hope. People have held protests. This weekend I went to a community summit on human trafficking at Allen Temple Baptist Church. I could write a dissertation on all of the information I learned. Three people spoke: Nola Brantley, executive director of MISSSEY; Melissa Farley, executive director of Prostitution Research and Education and Officer Jim Saleda. My mouth hit the floor when Officer Saleda said serving in Iraq paled to what's happening to girls in Oakland's streets. Our society finds money to pay athletes and reality stars. But when it comes to our women and children, especially those who are poor and minorities--it's a battle. We MUST save our girls from Oakland’s streets. WE MUST.