This is the Day Journal

“Black girls are viewed as being more adult for their age and less innocent than white girls. Therefore, they are not only less protected, but are often held more accountable for their actions than their white peers. A study by Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality probed deeper into this and identified it as the “adultification of Black girls.” The research revealed that ‘adults believe black girls ages 5-19 need less nurturing, protection, support and comfort than white girls of the same age, and that black girls are more independent, know more about adult topics, and know more about sex than white girls.’

Every day, human traffickers are out hunting their next victims and it is likely that they will find them. Will it be your child? Unfortunately, traffickers know who they can approach. They know who they can groom. They can spot the little girls with the daddy issues. They know the profile of the young girls going through an identity crisis and low self-esteem. They’ve studied the behavior patterns of rebellious teens on the verge of running away. They’ve mastered the art of manipulation and they have learned how to be patient and pounce at just the right time.

That’s what happened to me. I was broken, I was longing for acceptance, and I wanted to be loved. I was looking for an escape and I thought I was mature enough to handle a relationship with a man I believed to be in his 20s. Yet, at 15 years old, I wasn’t ready for the deception of a man who was really pushing 40 years old and had one thing on his mind. My mind couldn’t handle the magnitude of his manipulation because Jonathan was a master of deception and knew that my immaturity was ripe for exploitation.”

-Excerpt from Trapped in Plain Sight: The Unfamiliar Face of Human Trafficking