Story by Anneka Miller
Photos by Ariane Kunze
As dusk settled, the candles glowed brighter at Monday’s candlelight vigil, part of the Slavery Still Exists event series. Trickling rain fell as Sherry Dooley, a survivor of human trafficking, shared her harrowing story of being a 16-year-old girl trafficked on the streets of Portland, Oregon.
“Back then we called it pimpin’ and hoein’,” she says, recalling the red Cadillac and the man who told her she was beautiful and “should make some money off that.”
Slavery Still Exists aims to share the stories of survivors like Sherry, and raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking. Former University of Oregon student Huston Hedinger founded the group two years ago. At the vigil, he challenged listeners to ask themselves: “What does it mean when I live in a world where there is human trafficking?”
Candlelight danced on the faces of the audience as Jerry Regan shared his daughter’s story. Ten years ago she had a new boyfriend, who turned out to be a gang member. Today, she lives in Las Vegas trying to raise her son as a single parent. “She’s still not healed,” he says. “And neither is this family.”
Slavery Still Exists became an ASUO recognized student group this year. For one of their recent projects Slavery Still Exits volunteers posted human trafficking hotline stickers in rest stop bathrooms along the I-5 corridor, a main route for human trafficking. In conjunction with Compassion2One, a non-profit fighting child sex trafficking, the hotline stickers were posted in rest stops from Eugene to the Canadian boarder.
Educating and informing the public about human trafficking is only the beginning for Slavery Still Exists. The group plans to have volunteers work in women’s shelters and in oversea non-profits. However, Jennifer Gubbe, co-president of the group, emphasizes human trafficking is not just an international problem, it’s a local issue.
“Portland is the number two city for human trafficking,” she says. “That’s why we, here at the UO, want to get the conversation started.”
Next Thursday Portland Police Bureau Detectives Doug Justice and Megan Burkeen will share stories of the women they’ve met and the people they’ve put behind bars while working on human trafficking cases. The other events include a benefit concert featuring local bands, documentary film screening, and keynote addresses from people working to stop human trafficking.
To begin events, Slavery Still Exists posted 6,500 flags on the lawn outside Knight Library. Each blue flag represents 5,000 people globally and each white flag represents 50 people in the US.
“My biggest hope is that people will see that there is at least 27,000,000 people out there that don’t have a voice, and that if we take action it will stop,” Gubbe says.
Watch how Dooley shares her story through paint in Finding Freedom in the Paintbrush.
