BY-NC-SA In our first installment of Trafficked, Darlene and Brittney tell their stories of being trafficked. Both were put on the streets of Oakland at 15 years old. Darlene and Brittney say that hindsight and help from community organizations have given them a different perspective in the year they've been out of the life of a trafficked teenager. For one thing, they no longer feel trapped -- whether out of necessity, fear, or both -- by the men who trafficked them. And they now see more opportunities for themselves. Back then, said Brittney, "I felt I wasn't a victim."
"When you’re on the streets, you’re not supposed to talk to other girls," said Darlene, who was convinced by a boyfriend to prostitute after running away from home and moving in with him. Later, she found out he had been a pimp to other girls. "Once I started going to jail and [to victim's advocacy] programs, I met a lot of other girls that prostitute and now I can see the character in a person. I can tell by the way a girl walks, by the way a girl talks, if she’s a prostitute or not. And I see a lot of them."
Darlene said she sees some of them at a high school. Last spring, Darlene interviewed three teenagers who said they were actively working the streets or the Internet. These are unconfirmed person-on-the street accounts. Their accounts match social service findings of youth who are ensnared in sex trafficking. At times pragmatic about the lack of job options for teens in the Bay Area and other times impressed by their own ability to make over a thousand dollars a night, these are the views of three of the hundreds of girls still out there.
1. "I put it upon myself to go out there and get this money"
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"Living at home for me was very hard. We didn't have many resources. Me and my little brother would go to sleep with nothing to eat. My momma didn't have enough money to pay her bills, pay for rent. My mother was doing drugs, she did it all, crack, powder... So I put it upon myself to go out there and go get this money. But at the same time, I didn't do it just for myself. I also had been wrapped around this male... I'm listening to him telling me we can do this together, we're gonna have cars, money, clothes, jewelry, everything. But it didn't come out to be like that."
2. "I'm trying to be ready for my life"
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"My life is good at home. It's kinda a struggle, but it's good. My momma, she gives me money here and there, but at the same time, I'm tired of asking her for stuff. I'm trying to be on my own a little bit... I'm getting straight As, doing good, about to graduate. But at the same time, it's not getting me nowhere, it's not putting no money in my pockets."
3."I'm not no part-time ho"
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"I go to sleep with money in my pockets and I wake up with the same mentality. I'll post a new ad every day, I go to "the track" every day, and I have my tricks lined up every day. There's not a day that I don't get no money... I think I would be more into my education growing up somewhere else. But in Oakland, you got to get it how you get it. "
Youth Radio Investigates: Trafficked, on NPR’s All Things Considered tells the stories of two teenagers who were trafficked on the streets of Oakland. The investigation uncovers how the city’s law enforcement has responded to a sex trafficking industry that is thriving in plain sight. The series continues on youthradio.org and The Huffington Post, where multimedia reporting goes deeper to reveal the varied perspectives of girls sold for sex on the streets and online, and a pimp "business plan" provided by prosecuters.
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So sad
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