This content was published: January 14, 2014. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC event explores Portland’s sex trafficking crisis
Photos and story by Deborah Crawford
Portland Community College’s Sylvania Campus will hold a two-hour event to highlight the commercial sexual exploitation of children and sex trafficking crisis in Portland.
The event will feature a showing of the newly released documentary, “Waiting for the Light: Portland’s Sex Trafficking Crisis,” by the Junior League of Portland. A panel discussion by local experts will follow the film. The screening and discussion is at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 29, in the Performing Arts Center Building, Sylvania Campus (12000 S.W. 49th Ave.). The event is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. Parking on campus is $5.
Organized by the campus’ Women’s Resource Center, the documentary discussion aims to bring awareness about the prevalence of sex trafficking of children in Portland. Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies has identified Portland’s commercial sex industry as the largest per capita in the nation.
“People need to come to this event because so many people don’t know how big the problem is right here in Portland,” said student advocate and event coordinator Lan Ho. “This event is especially important to PCC because survivors of trafficking attend PCC.”
The student added that the global issue impacts communities in very local and very real ways. According to the Portland State University study conducted in 2013, between 2009-2013 there were a minimum of 469 youth in the Portland community who were victims of sex trafficking and the majority were born in the U.S. The average age of these victims was 15.5 years with the youngest 8 years of age.
I saw this film on Sunday evening, 01.12 and found it to be an excellent overview of the topic. This is an important social issue that is everybody’s issue. I urge us all to see this film and the panel discussion to learn more about how we can act to resolve this crime against humanity. Human Trafficking snares young girls and boys into a web of horror in which victims are used and abused, raped, tortured, drug addicted and rented out for sex over and over again. We all must be the answer to this heinous crime.
I have talked to my peers about this growing cruelty that surrounds us everyday. I am only one person that will fight for those who can not fight for them selves. I took a psychology class a few terms ago, and during the class a small group of officers spoke about sex trafficking in Portland. I was shocked to hear that this was happening to young boys, and young girls, around the area I grew up in. I have been around the block, and have seen my fare share of hatred,and violence. Being alone and scared and not having anyone sticking up for ones worth, I just can not stomach it anymore. I can not believe that socially we humans have become corrupted by difference, lust, and greed. Really! 11 and 13 year old kids, well that puts a real perspective on America and it’s dysfunctional view, which we are creating for the future generations. It is a crime to those who choose not to see reality, which could be just a shoulder away from where one stands to get coffee. I would love to help all neglected people not become a statisticc, of those whom seek to have control. human race have to
Shelly, thank you for your comments. I hope that you will come to the program on the 29th. We will see the movie “Waiting for the Light” produced by the Junior League. It provides a good glimpse into the chamber of horrors which ensnares too many young boys and girls. It is vital that we link arms and work together to rid the world of the exploitation and soul murder which is H.T. People are not for renting and selling. This is modern day slavery and I believe that people of conscience need to be modern day abolitionists! If we are not part of the solution we are part of the problem…Richard
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