June 19th, also known as Juneteenth, commemorates the emancipation of people who were enslaved in the United States. Most people are taught that the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 resulted in freedom. The fact of the matter is that it was not until three years after that people were “free.” However, being free from the shackles of slavery did not mean freedom from cruelty, white supremacy, bigotry, and intense difficulty coinciding with blatant and systemic racism.
As a global nonprofit organization, United Planet would be remiss not to recognize Juneteenth while also shedding light on current acts of cruelty which plague our world today.
Read More: Black History Month 2021 Recap
Kidnapping in Guatemala
In Guatemala, the average number of active alerts for the location of a registered missing or abducted child is 130 per week. Investigators concluded that factors such as mistreatment, sexual abuse, and exploitation within one’s own home are risk factors for kidnapping, with human trafficking as a secondary reason. These statistics shed light on the sheer terror which people in Guatemala live with every day. Another reality is that kidnapping and trafficking often result in a lack of employment, extreme poverty, violence, and addiction.
Child Soldiers in Africa
The use of children as soldiers plagues our global community every day. One child soldier is too many. In Africa, the number of child soldiers grows more alarming each day. Angola, Burundi, and Rwanda are some of the many countries in Africa which have resorted to the recruitment of child soldiers. According to a report conducted by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, “over 300,000 children under the age of 18 serve as child soldiers with government armed forces and armed opposition groups worldwide, with over 120,000 of them located in Sub-Saharan Africa” (Accord).
Human Trafficking in Texas
Human Trafficking is perhaps the most despicable form of modern-day slavery. While human trafficking occurs all over the world, there are unfortunately record numbers in Texas. This gross abuse of human rights can take the form of labor trafficking, as well as sex trafficking. According to Allies Against Slavery, approximately 79,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking in Texas each year while roughly 234,000 people are victims of labor trafficking.
“I am confident that we will one day end the scourge of modern slavery, because I believe in those committed to this issue.”
-Barack Obama
This past year, United Planet had the pleasure of working with a student eager to take action in combating the modern-day slavery epidemic. Liam Horvath participated in United Planet’s Global Leaders Program: “Ten Countries in Ten Weeks” where he learned firsthand about the horrors of human trafficking around the globe. Liam, along with Scout Troop 1740 of Sanibel Island, Florida decided to make bracelets and create brochures in an effort to raise awareness in their community and beyond.
Juneteenth is a day to reflect on what freedom means in not only the United States but around the globe. Today, thousands of people are not free. Freedom should not be a privilege. It is a basic human right that every person should experience. People who are Black have been victims of the most atrocious abuse of human rights- slavery. They continue to carry the trauma of those who came before them each and every day. Decades later, Black Americans continue to be victims of flagrant and systemic racism in every sector of society.
May we take Juneteenth as a day to pause, reflect, and work toward a world in which every person is free–free from invisible shackles that hold society captive from flourishing to attaining peace and true liberation.
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