Human trafficking in South Florida

I really enjoy living in South Florida, not merely for visits to the beach with the kids on weekends, and the tropical climate, but in particular for its cultural diversity. Many others are lured to a place under the US sun out of profound economic distress or political persecution, and then there are those forced here to be enslaved and exploited.

Reading a Miami Herald article this morning on human trafficking in South Florida, and about a gang of Latin American pimps whose network of private brothels was recently busted, I was disgusted by one reader’s [ktmbpilot] comment:

"This is what [sic] to their fellow countrymen/women. What will they do to you? This is classic example of why many do not want Hispanics allowed into the USA"

So what, back to the racist generalizing mode? Like, say, all Germans are Nazis, all Colombians are drug dealers, all Native Americans are lazy …? We have heard that one before, and all that such sweeping oversimplifications do is to corroborate not the veracity of the statement itself, but the racist ignorance of the venter.

But let’s not dwell on the racist remark per se, rather focus on the double-standards applied: I don’t need to engage in deeper market economics here to explain the intricate laws of supply and demand. Who exactly are the people that exploit enslaved Hispanic women at a rate of $25 that leaves their pimps with ‘revenues’ of $ 2,500 a week? Any chance these delinquents simply cater for the needs of the oh so decent brigade of (while, male) American Mr Cleans that the commentator implies are to be favored to the heinous and wicked Hispanics ‘invading’ US soil?

Also, let's not forget that in many countries, including the US, Native women have been disproportionally impacted by sexual exploitation. For evidence to this outrageous crime refer to the Shattered Hearts report on Native American victims in Minnesota, or to the website MissingJustice that pillories trafficking of young Aboriginal girls in Canada.

At times, it seems futile to post responses on the web to all scum that is out there, but nonetheless there is this urge to set things into a different perspective. And let’s pray that the organizations involved in the relief efforts for Haiti will set sufficient mechanisms in place to ensure that human trafficking will not victimize the numerous children orphaned by the devastating quake.

Civil*ice*age*ion

Heading back from a trip with my kids to an environmental and marine preservation center, I happened to see a sign on a humungous gas-guzzler speeding by, that read “‘Global Warming’ – A greater Scam than Madoff”. Well, given the fuel-comfort most Americans - and for that matter, most industrialized nations - seem to enjoy, combined with a large helping of ignorance that waives all wake-up calls, layered with Republican rhetoric frosting, and sprinkled with a general interest limited to national concerns as this individual displayed, such a sign comes as no surprise – yet, still succeeds in annoying me.

Whereas the disillusionment with the Cophenhagen show still lingers on, one comes to wonder as to why exactly the 'developed' industrialized world considers itself more 'civilized' than non-Western ‘others’? Dependence on fuel, intoxicating ground water with garbage, burdening landfills with non-recyclable items, convenience food, plastic bottles, and the list goes on … that is what supposedly determines an enlightened civilization?

I guess it’s back to the question how you define civilization. Reading a chapter book from the Magic Tree House series to my 2nd-grader, I found myself disgusted with the way in which civilization was explained in the usual ethno-centric validation of Euro-American cultures:

"Monks sat at wooden tables. Some were reading. Others played chess. Best of all, some were writing and painting in books. ‘This is our library,’ said Brother Patrick. ‘Here we study math, history, and poetry. We play chess. And we make books.’
‘Jack,’ said Annie. ‘I think this is it.’
‘What?’ said Jack. ‘Civilization!’ said Annie."

A European myself, I think it is central for my children to learn about European culture and civilization, but I vociferously refuse to have them learning that European culture is either the only, the superior, or the right version of civilization.

What about the markers of civilizations of so-called ‘other’ cultures, invaded, endangered, oppressed, marginalized, or destroyed by so-called Western modernity? Griots or storytellers in pre-colonial kingdoms of the African Sahara? Carvings by Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand? The list is endless, but it reminds me of a recent instance in which a non-European, ‘other’ form of history was endorsed and acknowledged: The “Delgamuukw v. British Columbia” trial; In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in this land rights trial that oral histories were just as important as written testimony.

It is unfortunate that an acknowledgement of ‘other’, non-Western, in particular indigenous traditional historiographies continues to be largely amiss in dominant, ‘Western’ cultures. And it is precisely in children’s literature where we need to see a more encompassing approach to how we teach global histories.

However, I have to give Osborne credit in that she included a foreword, where she explains about Viking cultures of Scandinavia and the sophisticated ships they built "completely by hand." Given the proclivity of avid young readers to skip the foreword and rush to the main story (which of course, refers to my little reader at home), I only wish Osborne would have taken this example as a basis for her story, and as a proof of culture and civilization,


Sources:
Mary Pope Osborne. 1998. Viking Ships at Sunrise. New York et al: Scholastic.
Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 1010 [online] at http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1997/1997scr3-1010/1997scr3-1010.html