Freedom Sunday

Posted by Daniel Alstadt on February 21, 2010 - 4:46pm

Many of you might have seen the movie Amazing Grace which told the incredible story of William Wilberforce’s fight to end the slave trade in England. I found it very inspiring and informative on a subject about which I knew very little. I recall seeing an option on the DVD menu on ending modern day slavery and laughing a little inside at the thought of such atrocities continuing on today. In my mind, slavery had ended.

Three years passed with little thought on the subject, and then I found myself attending an Urbana workshop titled "Modern-Day Abolitionist Movements". It was there that I learned in detail how these horrors continue today and of things I could do to end modern day slavery.

  • First, I could ask my church to participate in Freedom Sunday and make others aware of what I had been so ignorant. 27 million people currently live in bondage. South Korea is the #1 source country of slaves coming into the U. S. with 50% of those being used for sexual exploitation and 27% as domestic slaves. There are two documented incidents of people being enslaved in St. Louis.
  • Secondly, I could stop funding the slave business by consuming differently. William Wilberforce combated the sugar industry, and the speaker I heard is working to target the slave labor used in the chocolate industry.
  • Most importantly, I could pray! Psalm 10: 17-18 “O Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble; thou wilt strengthen their heart, thou wilt incline thine ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may cause terror no more.” Psalm 82:3-4 “Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”

What can you do?

  • Learn more about human trafficking at the Not For Sale Campaign and sign up for their newsletter. Download the free Bible Study titled Set the Captives Free. (Click "Take Action" and then "Resources").
  • Buy chocolate from a source that commits to not buy from cocoa farmers using child slaves to harvest their beans by consulting Not For Sale's chocolate campaign page.
  • Visit Free2Work to learn which companies do not use child or forced labor in their production. They are eventually working on an Iphone application that would allow you to scan bar codes while shopping to see this information.
  • To see reports of incidents both in St. Louis and worldwide, go to Not For Sale's SlaveryMap.
  • Read David Batstone’s book Not for Sale.
  • Suspect human trafficking? Call the National Hotline at 1-888-373-3788.

-Ashley Pettus