America is doing a lot to help all over the world. We’re helping in Africa and Asia, we’re helping in Europe and Latin America, but the question remains, why aren’t we doing more to free the slaves in the United States of America?

AbolishSlavery.org has been waging a war against the sale of American victims on Backpage since 2008, when AS field team facilitated rescues of the first victims off Backpage in Florida. The Abolish Slavery Coalition conducted law enforcement training's, online investigations, tactics training's for local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, social media campaigns, news interviews, conferences, and years of investigations and rescues of victims of human trafficking sold off Backpage. Many of these investigations were televised, and the organization even joined coalitions of organizations to protest on the street, outside their New York offices.

When AbolishSlavery.org began it’s nationwide campaign along with the organizations, Breaking Free and CATW to have Backpage shut-down, lobbyists and activists associated with the sex industry responded by conspiring and succeeding to shut down media projects and shows on MSNBC. Following the rescue of the first victim on Backpage in 2000, subsequent investigations led to many... many victims of sex trafficking being rescued from multiple trafficking rings nationwide involving Backpage.com.

AbolishSlavery.org led protests against Backpage in New York, San Francisco, and spoke with CNN, FOX-News, and MSNBC to put pressure on U.S. authorities who were influenced by UN policy advisers. These UN policy makers are pro-prostitution and supported by deep pocket sex industry lobbyists and pro “sex worker” groups who conspire to understate the real statistics on sex trafficking, by placing an emphasis on labor trafficking. The UN still seeks to falsely claim that labor trafficking is a greater problem to society than sex trafficking; However, had this emphasis been properly portrayed and adopted by previous administrations… we could have won this campaign much earlier. In the past 8 years, thousands and thousands of minors, girls and boys, and young women were sold on Backpage.com.

The flawed policy on human trafficking under previous administrations to monitor and combat human trafficking in the United States allowed Backpage to continue unchecked and without accountability until now. Under the previous justice departments, websites such as Backpage were emboldened to empower traffickers to lure, coerce, and subjugate American victims of sex trafficking, essentially creating a new brand of the American slave trade under the guise of online prostitution.  

Photo: Aaron Cohen, Mission Director of AbolishSlavery.org and Veronica, reunited with her mother

In the picture above, Veronica, a victim sold off backpage.com into sex trafficking is reunited with her mother after being rescued by AbolishSlavery.org

Online sex trafficking is a Leviathan wrapping it’s tentacles around unsuspecting American victims, and though the members of AbolishSlavery.org are pleased with the seizure of Backpage.com, other big violators in the sex industry are still profiting on the subjugation of sex trafficking victims. While the victory against Backpage is significant, the stake-holders who are trying to understate the relationship between prostitution and sex trafficking continue to downgrade sex trafficking statistics.

AbolishSlavery.org continues to provide long term support for victims of sex trafficking that are sold online, and we are exploring assisting our survivors in joining the scores of class action lawsuit to seek damages and compensation.

Dawn Adams, Secretary of the board for AbolishSlavery.org center, is featured with Backpage survivor, Kristina, right, and her mother, left

Kristina was rescued off Backpage four years earlier by the AbolishSlavery.org task force. Dawn worked with the investigative team that rescued Kristina, and is still working with her to this day. Kristina is now a new mother, is in college, and works to champion human rights causes.