New York Times article:

Slavery Becomes a Personal Question Online

American Apparel Headquarters

USC: "The worst thing and academic can be is an advocate"

USC Trafficking and Technology presentation

The Technology and Trafficking in Persons Research Project is an initiative of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy created to study the current use and broader implementation of information communication technologies in the international fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.

After two years of listening to highly emotional (and I must say highly impactful) presentations on human trafficking, USC spoke in academic terms. They outlined the premise for their research, spoke about the overwhelming lack of hard data on the issue, and refreshingly lacked emotion. For two hours we discussed the standards of academic research and theoretical honesty when researching social issues. While passion is effective in raising awareness about a social concern, data that informs policy most effectively lacks emotion. Dr. Mark Latonero, the Center’s Research Director, went so far as to say that the worst think an academic can be is an advocate. In this project, it’s crucial that they understand the research, wherever it may take them, even though they're concentrating on an issue they have a subjective stance on. Does this make sense?

In essence: trafficking is wrong, it violates every moral code one can think of, but that stance cannot interfere/overshadow/guide research in any way/shape/form.

The team of researchers we met with is working alongside USC’s Information and Sciences Institute (the same group that helped develop the internet for the world in the 70’s). ISI is highly interested in how machines learn and respond to language, and the FBI has worked with ISI on previous projects (think anti-terrorism) to track language in social media. This time they’re developing a website prototype that will allow the FBI to detect and analyze patterns in language on websites such as Craigslist, Backpage.com, and Redbook – sites commonly accused of facilitating trafficking. This next generation of this prototype would be MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. “There’s a common link among traffickers; we need that same link among anti-traffickers.” - Zhaleh Boyd, Research Associate. While those who follow the issue know that social media is being utilized by traffickers, USC is hoping to actually turn these anecdotes into data - and supporting anecdotes statistically is what informs policy. Right now, the data is all over the map and academically sound research is hard to find. They have their work cut out for them, but I’m excited to hear that fields like communication and information technology are stepping forward.

Amanda Allen, Project Manager, Baylor Interdisciplinary Poverty Initiative

American Apparel and the Latino Immigrant Community

American Apparel

We toured every floor of American Apparel’s “vertically integrated” clothing factory. The fact that we were even able to go inside the building set them apart from peers in the garment industry. We’re unaware of any other clothing manufacturer that allows consumers to observe work conditions (in Los Angeles and the United States). We saw in American Apparel what we’d like to imagine all factories possess – fair wages, healthcare, laughter. But from countless articles and experts we were able to speak with throughout the week we know American Apparel is the outlier. We may have read about unfair labor practices before, but seeing the process before our eyes gave us new knowledge- on exactly how complex supporting non-exploitative labor can be, and how we fit into that picture.

Latino Immigrant community:

“Just blocks from MacArthur Park, known for its gang-violence and drug-dealing, we toured a street that is a hub of immigrant culture on weekend nights. As the sun starts to go down, all the life hidden inside the shops and homes in the area turn out of doors into a lively festival-swap meet vibrating with movement. We met a guy named Ruben Nuno who moved his church into this part of town to minister to gang members and migrant families who are overlooked by the system and lost in gaps of poverty. The street was lined with outdoor vendors selling anything from what looked to be old donated Levis from a thrift store, to churros, to miscellaneous technology parts. We bought (with cash) and tasted delicious fajitas on fresh corn tortillas—and got a whole new understanding of “street tacos”. As we walked among what looked to be the entire Latino immigrant community of downtown LA, he shared with us the stories of many of those he had worked with over the years. The majority of these individuals, he said, were victims of labor trafficking and likely still trapped in debt-bondage situations.”

Paige Panter; Service Learning VISTA, co-leader

Highlight: LA Metro Task Force Meeting

"Back on Texas soil, I leave the city of Los Angeles hopeful, hopeful that the battle to end human trafficking is being fought by brave individuals who do not cower to the belief that the enslavement of human beings was, is, and will always be. One week was not nearly enough time to see all the great things being accomplished in the name of justice but I was most impressed by our time at the LA Metro Task Force meeting on Tuesday morning. We had the real honor of sitting in the presence of true heroes, extraordinary in their combined efforts to end the tragic conditions in society that allow for human trafficking to soon become the most profitable crime in the world. Comprised of FBI agents, NGOs, and officers from the LAPD and Long Beach P.D., we were welcomed in introductions and sat in awe and deep appreciation of how well they communicated what has recently been done on their front. We witnessed a very honest, critical admission of missteps and areas in need of improvement. I was amazed by the rapport that was displayed in that room. So many different approaches (advocacy, law enforcement, aftercare), ideologies (faith-based vs. non-faith-based), and areas of focus (labor trafficking vs. sex trafficking), yet we were able to witness such successful collaboration. Now that we’re back from that beautiful city, it’s our hope to see the establishment of similar alliances, here, and abroad."

Kristina Miller; School of Social Work, Junior

IJM Secretary

Highlight: LA Metro Task Force Meeting

“Before going on the LA Anti-Human Trafficking trip, I had read a lot of different articles that discussed how every profession was addressing the issue of human trafficking. As I continually read these articles I was bothered by the lack of collaboration between these professionals and organizations. For example, one article that portrayed the perspective of a social worker might say that under-aged girls should never be arrested for prostitution because they are a victim and should not be treated as a criminal. Then another article from a police officer's perspective will argue how important it is to arrest these girls because at least they can hold them for a couple of hours and get service providers, social workers, and non-profit representatives a chance to come in and help the girls instead of them before they are released and return to their pimp. All these articles offered very different yet valuable perspectives towards the issues of human trafficking. But because of all these controversies around the issue, by far the most inspiring part of the LA trip was the LA task force meeting. This is a group of professionals that meet once a month to discuss success stories and concerns around the issue of Human Trafficking. This group consisted of LAPD, FBI, and ICE officers, along with lawyers, social workers, and non-profit organization representatives. The meeting is open to the public so we were fortunate to be in town and able to attend. Hearing all the different issues that I've read about laid out on the table and discussed was very encouraging. Seeing all these important people come together to truly discuss issues and find solutions to these problems, depicted a sense of collaboration that cannot be received from reading the articles. Reading about all the perspectives offered a lot of intellectual insight, but being able to witness it first hand and talk to people after the meeting was a priceless opportunity.”

Dalychia Saah; School of Social Work, Junior
IJM Justice Week Coordinator

images from the trip

A glimpse from out the window of a sweat shop we toured after hours--big thank you to Ruben Nuno.

 Dinner in little Tokyo our last night

 A picture of the founder of Downtown Women's Center with the center's inspiration, Rosa

 We found the two coolest stores in Echo Park; on the left is satellite project of Dave Eggers' non-profit that provides after-school tutoring and writing classes for youth in the area