Justice Symposium & Update

On Saturday, I attended Mount St. Mary’s College’s annual Justice Symposium with my community mates, John and Cara. The theme was My link, Our link to Human Trafficking.  I was first formally introduced to human trafficking  as a justice issue while on a service/immersion trip with BC last winter in Puebla, Mexico. Along with my group, I heard a talk about the trafficking, sexual exploitation, and forced labor of women in the southwest region of Mexico.  The talk was powerful and eye-opening. Though our trip primarily focused on environmental justice issues, that one hour session stuck with me.

This weekend I learned so much more about the problem of human trafficking in the United States. Since this “issue” is relatively “new” to the justice system and academia, the terminology is actually quite misleading. According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (an act which reauthorized and expanded the Trafficking Victims Protection Act enacted in 2000), trafficking laws cover sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor; basically, trafficking covers all forms of modern slavery.  The facts and figures thrown around during the day evidenced proved that slavery didn’t end with the emancipation proclamation.

If anything, slaves today are more disposable than they were during the Atlantic Slave Trade era. “Owners” (traffickers, employers, exploiters, etc) no longer have to invest the time and money to keep their slaves alive because the trade is faster and more readily available. Slavery goes hand in hand with many other crimes – kidnapping, drug trade, smuggling of weapons and persons, forged documents, assault, etc.  In the arena of illegal immigration, the differentiation between smuggling and trafficking is an important, and often misunderstood one: persons who are smuggled pay others to help them enter the country illegally, and are then on their own once they cross the border. Persons who are trafficked may believe that is what they signed up for, but once they cross the border they are forced to work in factories, homes, fields, brothels, etc to pay of the ‘debt’ incurred during the smuggling process. Often, the ‘debt’ can never be paid off.   I attended a workshop on the laws and policies in California and the US surrounding trafficking, as well as a workshop about different elements of slavery.  

I could go on and on writing about what I learned during the day. I’d love to continue the conversation, and hope to keep doing research about what I can do.  Instead of rambling any more, I’ll point you to some websites that were shared with us as resources:

Keynote speaker: Ron Soodalter, author of  The Slave Next Door   (I have this on hold at the library…can’t wait to read it.)

Keynote Speaker: Kay Buck  www.castla.org

Free the Salves: www.freetheslaves.net

Not For Sale Campaign: www.notforsalecampaign.org

Polaris Project: www.polarisproject.org

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A activity few updates since my last post: 

• Julie’s birthday! We celebrated by going out to dinner and with cake back at home. Afterward, Julie, Zach and I went to a West LA karaoke bar where Julie’s boss – and birthday twin! – was having a party. It was hilarious! We didn’t sing but we certainly were entertained.
• VEGAS! Over MLK weekend, about 15 JVs took off for Las Vegas. We did the trip on the cheap by staying in the travel lodge, bringing some of our own food & beverages, gambling only at penny slots (I won $3!), and finding clubs with no cover charge. It was a fantastic weekend filled with lots of football watching, hotel exploring and dancing. [[Note: everything in Vegas really does glitter…we went to mass at a local church and the even wall behind the altar was sparkly!]]
  

  

  The Ladies in Vegas
  

• MLK Spirituality Night: To commemorate Martin Luter King Jr, John planned a spirituality night around his famous “I have a dream” speech. We listened to the speech in its entirety, which I would recommend if you haven’t heard it before.  We then talked about the ‘freedoms’ that are still being fought for in the US today. It was a great night. 
• Dinner with the Petersen’s: After “Fiesta Friday” at Verb (a monthly staff Friday afternoon gathering with food and drink aplenty), Zach’s parents and sister took Casa DK out to dinner in Santa Monica.  It was a treat to spend time with them, as well as with Zach’s youngest sister.
• UCLA Recruitment: On Sunday morning, Julie, Ben, and I went to the 10:30 mass at UCLA’s University Catholic Center. Julie made an awesome announcement about JVC with hopes to recruit a few prospective volunteers.  On Monday, all of Casa DK went back to the UCC for dinner and a panel discussion with interested volunteers. It was interesting to see what campus ministry is like at a secular school, and experience a university setting where Jesuits and JVC aren’t so well known!
• Up Next: We are off to ReOrientation this weekend. For five days we will be at Camp St. Francis in Aptos (where we had orientation). I'm looking forward to the retreat.

Back to School

While I was enjoying a three week vacation from students, two of which I spent in the comfort of my “home home” in New Jersey, many of my students were, to be frank, bored. Three weeks with no classes is a wonderful reward for college students who study their butts off – or don’t – for a semester. But for elementary school students who are still learning study skills and how to be successful, three unstructured weeks is a nightmare. On Monday, the kids were actually excited to be back in school. They complained of being bored at home, and expressed their gratefulness for having a full day of activity between school and Urban Compass (although they still complained come homework time.)

What’s worse is the stories they told of what went down in the projects over break. There’s no knowing what really happened, but as I listened to these stories and imagined them through their eyes, I was scared and sad. “Ms. G,” one of our fifth graders told us, “there was a war in the projects over break.” Another students’ mom was jumped and robbed of a necklace when walking her kids home. Another students’ cousin was shot. The kids’ reactions to these incidents is confusing. They appear sad, but tell the stories so matter-of-factly that I can’t tell gravity of the situation. Not that it matters, really.

This week has been a good one, productive in the office during the day as well as with the kids. I was so excited to see them on Monday, and am grateful that they all came back to the program safe and healthy. Of course by the end of the week I’m exhausted again – that hoarse voice that my mom hears on the phone when we chat during the week hasn’t had much of a rest once program time rolls around. My frustration levels are constantly in flux: in one moment I’m laughing at the hilarity of a five year old playing freeze dance, but in the next I’m so frustrated with a first grader who won’t speak to any of the teachers, and won’t even try to read.

The laughter, though, outweighs the frustrations. Today, I taught a fourth grade boy how to throw a football. Though I don't claim to be a football expert, I've gotten a lot of practice in the last few months and showed him how to hold the ball. This student is particularly challenging - he has trouble controlling his anger and is often mean to other kids, especially if he doesn't get his way. He's a tough nut to crack, and often prefers to play with his first grade brother than kids his own age. Today, for the 10-15 minutes that we were playing catch (the longest I've ever held his attention), the smile on his face didn't go away. He was so proud of himself for being able to throw...he's pretty good! And when I threw to him, he was so excited and yelled, "Ms. Z I catched it!" when I turned to talk to another student. I did a little victory dance for him and he started laughing. I was so proud of him, and honored when he asked me at the end of the day if we can play again tomorrow.

This past weekend we had a few houseguests to Casa DK, and threw a party for the LA JVs, a few former residents of DK, and volunteers from other groups. Otherwise, the weekend consisted of watching playoff football (bye bye Eagles) and bowl games (bye bye other Eagles). This week has been low-key, with most of our energy and excitement going towards planning our spontaneous trip to Vegas this weekend (yes, really!) and making plans for Julie’s birthday!

That’s all for now.  I’m a few hours early, but Happy Birthday Mom!!

Christmas break has come and gone, and it feels like the Urban Compass holiday party was months ago. I was blessed to be able to go home for 10 days, where I spent lots of time with family, friends from Cherry Hill, and even a couple BC friends! It was a lovely break from LA, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss my students and housemates. In fact, I still miss my kids because they have another whole week off before school starts! Oh, LA Unified School District… (but that’s a whole other story). 

Being away from work made me realize how much I do in fact love my job at Urban Compass.  I got lucky Being away from Casa Dorothy Kazel made me realize how important my community is to me on this journey.  In fact, this morning as I was listening to Juanes’ new album (thanks, Santa!) and a line from the first song, “Amigos” stuck out to me:

Compañeras, compañeros de este viaje,

Brindo por ustedes, Brindo por ustedes

Ustedes los amigos verdaderos

Por eso yo les quiero dar

Gracias por estar conmigo

Rough translation, not nearly as poetic as Juanes:

Companions on this journey,

I toast to you, I toast to you,

You, my true friends,

For this I want to give you thanks,

For being with me

How beautiful! The lyrics are just as true about all the family members and friends that are such blessings in my life. What a nice thought at the beginning of 2011.  Happy New Year to all of you!