Human Trafficking by Hoku Lani – Non-Fiction

“‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.” — Leviticus 25:44-46*

According to Exodus, if a family sold their daughter into servitude, she couldn’t buy her way to freedom the way a man could. If they sold her as a servant-wife, the man who owned her had to deprive her of food, clothing, and marital rights for her to be allowed to leave. Outside of this very specific rule, slavery was generally accepted, however it had to be “fair.”

Nowadays, we have a different term for this practice: human trafficking. The awareness of the immorality behind slavery and human trafficking is fairly new to humankind, and even still, we aren’t too good at controlling the urge to participate in it. So before you go condemning a group of people, think about how we, as a species, have not moved on from this practice. Instead, we go to great lengths to kidnap people, sell them into sex work, and hide the transactions. Who am I to judge or be judged for my participation?