Where are you from, and why there?
I grew up in San Angelo, Texas, but now live near Cincinnati, Ohio. I moved to the Cincinnati area to remain close to my immediate family and found it to be a great place to build a career. I have traveled abroad fairly extensively, notably across Europe and Latin America, and I believe this has given me greater perspective in my work and in life.
Which issues do you work on/care about, and why?
I specialize in issues pertaining to human trafficking, but also deal a lot with crimes against children, domestic/dating/family violence, and sexual assault. The horrible reality is that all of these things are so interrelated to the point that they’re pretty much the same issue, yet collectively they get very little attention. These are pervasive problems at the core of society’s ills but, because they are so often ignored, they create wider shockwaves throughout our civilization. And, while we’ve only begun to understand the scope of the problem, we refuse to apply even the knowledge we’ve gained.
For instance, many people are quite naturally concerned about violent crime. Yet, precious few are asking what are the driving forces behind these problems; what causes people to engage in such behavior? What we find – and this has been known in the scientific and medical communities for decades – is that early experiences of trauma leads to increased criminality and much shorter life expectancy. The people who are committing these crimes aren’t inherently evil – they’re often committing them because they themselves have been horribly victimized and conditioned to accept this behavior as normal. They’ve been abused, they’ve been raped, they’ve been beaten; trafficking victims in particular are frequently forced by their traffickers to do these things against their will, all while never betraying their trafficker because of the psychology involved. We know this for a fact, and yet we continue to ignore the underlying problem, accept the resulting violence as merely the cost of doing business as usual, and continue to exploit these people for our perceived benefit because our culture has already deemed them “expendable.” To me, that’s beyond insane.
How did you get involved?
I remember this quite vividly. I was 16 and volunteering for a number of organizations that were investigating child abuse in so-called “boot camps” for “troubled teens.” These were in reality nothing more than trafficking rings that well-off parents could send their teen to disappear in for tens of thousands of dollars per year. In many cases, the kids would then be beaten, raped, and otherwise horribly abused and mistreated in the name of “therapy” for problems such as talking back to their parents or missing curfew.
One day, I noticed some shared irregularities among several of these programs and took it to my boss, who told me to ignore it. Being young and, admittedly, more than a tad bit arrogant, I promptly ignored his advice and proceeded to involve the FBI, which led to a cascade of consequences. I’ve been trying to cause similar ‘good trouble’ ever since.
What are the biggest challenges for the issue(s) today?
The biggest challenge is just how deeply rooted in our global culture these issues are. Slavery has existed since human beings organized into society, whereas patriarchal gender norms and child abuse are written into the world’s holy books as being divinely dictated, if not outright righteous. We’ve only very recently begun to challenge these assumptions in our collective history, with animal shelters having existed for centuries longer than the first women’s shelter. This cultural undercurrent leads to a critical lack of willpower to do anything substantive to address the problem. This is because the facts behind human trafficking are like those behind climate change: they’re inconvenient and very uncomfortable. All of us contribute to the problem whether we know it or not, and the solutions are not politically popular.
To truly address sex trafficking, for example, we men need to drastically change our behavior and the way we treat women in our society. To address labor trafficking, we need to give up certain luxuries and be willing to pay more at the grocery store for goods that aren’t produced with slave labor, from the produce, meat, and seafood we eat to the cars, computers, and cell phones we use daily. Yet, precious few seem willing to do any of that. The moment you even suggest doing that, you’re labeled a “radical” who “wants to destroy America,” which I think really speaks a great deal about our larger cultural values at a much deeper level. If that’s what I’m destroying by simply opposing slavery, then so be it.
Who are your most frequent allies in your field? Any surprises?
I frequently interact with law enforcement, social workers, and activists of all kinds. Human trafficking, I’ve learned, is the issue that connects all other social justice issues together: any form of vulnerability can result in human trafficking, and so any sort of marginalization can become a life-or-death issue. Likewise, trafficking in persons is the crime that connects all other crimes together: gang activity, cybercrime, fraud, prostitution, petty theft, etc. – the overriding theme is human trafficking, and it is absolutely essential that law enforcement begin to take notice of this pattern, because it’s not a standard part of their training.
However, I think the biggest surprise is the frequency in which I get assistance from the intelligence community, such as officers from the CIA and the NSA. A lot of people have very negative things to say about these organizations, but they haven’t seen how these people act behind the scenes, without desire for thanks, fanfare, or reward, to help those who are in crisis or who otherwise would simply be left to die. These people are true heroes, and I wish I could detail the amazing acts of grace and humanity that I’ve witnessed them take part in.
What drives you?
The simple notion that slavery is wrong. Prior to becoming so deeply involved in this work, I would have said this was a widely held belief, at least in the United States. Now, quite frankly, I don’t believe that to be the case. In fact, I am compelled to point out that slavery never really disappeared in the United States – it merely morphed into a much subtler, far less noticeable state. Such is the nature of true evil. Chasing that evil drives me, because when I look back on my life and all my other priorities, I can honestly say that nothing else really matters to me.
What do you want your career/advocacy to stand for?
That people have basic inalienable human rights, and thus the idea that slavery is wrong. I really don’t see what is so difficult to understand about this, and I’m perfectly content to be remembered as the deranged madman who screamed endlessly into the void on this point.