Why Do We Turn Victims Into Criminals

Before interning at Restore NYC, prostitution was a world I wasn’t familiar with outside of pop culture and academia. Songs like Ludacris’s “Area Code” glorify the life of a pimp, while Julia Roberts portrays in “Pretty Woman” how a prostitute can find herself in a sweet love story. In middle school, when we sang along with 50 Cents’s “P.I.M.P.” our ears only caught the chorus, and we missed the underlying violent truth embedded in, “Now Niki my bottom b*tch, she always come up with my bread/ The last n*gga she was with put stitches in her head.”

At my university, I learned in my Gender and Sexuality class about the idea of heteronormative, Puritanical statures being set on American society. In class we were taught how sex work can be an empowering decision for women. But I failed to realize the women we studied often served an elite, wealthy clientele (politicians, corporate tycoons) and the women themselves came from different socio-economic backgrounds than the women and cases I encountered while interning at Restore (college-educated Americans versus women from post-war countries enticed by jobs in America). When our class framed our discussions about the legalization of prostitution, I pictured how a well-off group of women would benefit from being able to work in an open and monitored work place, all the while ignorant to the reality of human sex-trafficking.

But to every empowered woman there is a girl emotionally-manipulated and abused by her pimp. Instead of sexual progression there is human regression as women and girls are brought into America as slaves.

During my internship I was forced to confront an ugly truth about myself: somewhere along the line I had internalized the idea that prostitutes deserved to take complete responsibility for their decisions. I had traded my intelligence for simple answers fed to me by academia, and exchanged my compassion for the ubiquitous attitude towards “hoes.”

At Restore I learned more about the reality that pimps and human traffickers seek to keep secret in order to profit from human exploitation. A pimp is not a smooth-talking womanizer who should be admired, but rather he is a master of manipulating girls, as young as 13-years-old, who often come from abusive homes, into a life of sexual exploitation and emotional abuse that a lifetime may not heal.

In the eyes of her pimp or her trafficker, a prostitute is a monetary number. A human life can be bought for a few hundred dollars, and later capitalized to thousands of dollars each week as prostitutes are forced to service multiple Johns. Prostitution suddenly becomes a business less about sex and more about dehumanization.

One of the most revealing experiences was going to court with Kara. There we were able to see the women who were brought in for prostitution. Rather than seeing them as victims of a broken system, these women were tried as criminals.

Dumplings in Flushing Will Never Be the Same...

My experience interning at Restore this summer has equipped me to recognize human trafficking when I see it, to understand the depth of the issue, and to contribute to the fight against it.

I learned quickly to identify the signs of human trafficking and realized that this underground world that had seemed so foreign to me was actually closer than I thought. While on a prayer walk in the Flushing neighborhood where I had stayed last summer before moving into my dorm, I came to the realization that I would never see that neighborhood the same way again. All the places I remembered so fondly— the Chinese restaurant where I used to get dumplings with my family, the grocery store where I had purchased snacks to stock my dorm room for the first time— were thoroughly intermingled with places that had remained invisible to me before. During the prayer walk, I began to notice the neighborhood's high concentration of suspicious massage parlors. On the map of the area provided by Restore, all the familiar streets were highlighted in yellow to call attention to places where trafficking had been discovered. I now knew the implications of the signs that read "New Asian girls every week" or of the newspaper advertisements that emphasized "outcalls only." I learned that massage parlors that offer sexual services, that frequently change names, addresses, or both, that are located in ethnic-specific communities, and that are staffed by recent and possibly undocumented immigrants are often places where desperate women are forced, deceived, or coerced into sex work. It grieved me that our we live in a society that allows such establishments to advertise in mainstream publications like Time Out New York and Village Voice, which are praised, promoted, and occasionally given away for free by my university.

When Karen and I accompanied Kara to the Queens District Court, my eyes were opened to one more of the countless injustices that plague victims of sex trafficking: the criminalization of the victims. When we were on our way to court, I had imagined that the defendants would not be the women but their perpetrators: the people who sold them into slavery or held them captive or paid for their services. I was shocked and appalled to see the women themselves standing before the judge, accused of criminal acts when, instead, they should have been viewed as exploited victims desperately in need of rescue.

My time spent at Restore taught me that, despite the magnitude of the need, the fight against human trafficking is far from hopeless. I was encouraged to see that organizations like Restore and GEMS are able to make the best of the unfortunate fact that the victims are tried as criminals, because they actually work through the court system to come into contact with the women and counsel them. Becoming better acquainted with the issue, learning to identify the warning signs has prepared me to take action against human trafficking, as well.

Can I simply ignore the things that I see?

As NYCUP is starting to wind down, I have been doing a lot of thinking: What more can I do in the life that I am living in? Throughout these past weeks, many issues have been raised, issues that I was not even aware of. Some of these issues are of the homeless, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking.

Definitely, something needs to be done. I’m glad God is at work. The many different organizations that we are all interning are prime examples that something is being done. But that does not mean that we do not need to care about the issues in our community. If anything we should become more active, especially when we know that something is not right.

These last few days, I have been feeling exactly just that. With all of my knowledge and experience that have gained through NYCUP, I do not believe that I can revert back to my same, exact comfortable life style. That is not to say that I will completely change my whole lifestyle. Instead some part of my lifestyle will have to change.

Although, initially, I felt overwhelmed and burdened from being made aware of all these different issues, I am reminded that all of these issues are not meant for me to bear. Only Jesus Christ can bear all of these problems and make it right.

Of course, knowing this truth doesn’t mean that I can just turn a blind eye. Although I do not need to bear these burdens, I still feel compassionate of what I see right in front of me. Can I simply ignore the things that I see?

To Burp or Not to Burp...

To be honest, I think living in a female-dominated house has been quite an annoying, yet rewarding experience. Of course there’s the obvious list of things not to do – such as walking around the house in my boxers, using my shirt to fan myself, changing clothes with the door open, leaving the bathroom door unlocked, burping and farting out in the open or making it a competition and I think the list goes on forever. And then... There’s the not-so-obvious list of things that you should do...

I grew up in orange county, California my whole life. with the beach only 15-20 mins away, I think its fair to say that both women wearing just bikinis or shirtless guys walking around the community is a norm. the standard for the amount of skin you can show is most likely different compared to many other suburban areas (I would argue). after all, if you've ever looked at the facebook group for california ("B*tch please..... I'm from california), you might've noticed #5 - which is basically about how adult videos are made here because sex is better here. you can disagree or agree with that if you want, but I'm merely just using it as an example of the uniqueness of the setting I grew up in; and likewise, I think everyone else in this house grew up in their own way and in their own environment.

Its been interesting to see how everyone reacts to certain situations or events in their own ways. Also, being able to witness what everyone brings to the table has been great. I think its been a humbling experience for me to acknowledge the differences that exist in different generations, cultures, backgrounds, or even in gender. Although at times things here and there continue to annoy and gnaw at me, being able to learn from these experiences has been good. At the very least, now I know the type of people I don't want to live with again hahah :).

What may be fine with me may not be fine with others. What may be great and awesome with me may not be great and awesome with others. What may sound pleasing to my ears may not be pleasing to others. What may be insensitive to me may be sensitive to others. What may be normal for me to do or say may not be normal to others who witness. What I do may not be interpreted by others as what I'd hope or think. Ultimately everyone ticks a bit differently from each other and I think we should all suck-it-up and acknowledge that. And with that in mind, community can be born no?

Doing some not-so-obvious things in this house such as encouraging others with words of affirmation daily are things I think should do in order for community-building right? Well, maybe.

-- Jason

Check Your Foundation Before Fueling the Fire

This was supposed to be a day, or night rather, of rest. Jonathan Walton (director of NYCUP) talked about stoking the flames of the fire to ensure that the foundation is still intact, rather than always adding more fuel to the fire and then burning out too quickly as a consequence. The parallel to our current state of mind is that we should reflect in peaceful silence on what God has been revealing to us lately rather than merely accumulating more and more knowledge and passion and then burning out easily. But tonight didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to for me.

I finished reading “Not for Sale.” I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to be disturbed, moved, and inspired. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to be disturbed by the injustice in this world, moved by those who took the initiative to fight this injustice, and inspired enough to make a difference themselves.

After the couple of hours of reflection and restoration, the whole house came together to share about what God had been placing on our hearts. I shared that through reading this book, God was showing me how ignorant, indifferent and fearful I had been before reading it. What did I know about the slave trade, sexual slavery, human trafficking? Even if I did know, what did it matter to me in this present moment- it didn’t affect me personally or break my heart to do anything about it? And even if it did matter to me, how could I, the most ignorant and least influential person of all, do anything about it?

Reading “Not for Sale” allowed God to break my heart to see the pain and suffering that others have been and are currently going through. I saw how distant I was from truly loving others. How could I not have known? How could I have stood idly by instead of researching to find out more or spreading awareness about this global issue? How could I be comfortable enough in my life to not be desperate about this injustice and pray to God that He would show me a way in which I could use my gifts or skills or connections to fight this crime and liberate people from slavery and thus ultimately glorify God’s own name? In the ending chapters of the book, Batstone wrote that “social movements take root and blossom when enough individuals take personal action. When you tell yourself that there is nothing that you can do to arrest the global slave trade, you underestimate your own potential and abandon hope for those trapped in captivity” (269). I add that God can use all of us for change, and that we must trust that He will provide us with whatever we lack. God wants us to search for a vocation, a calling rather than a career (architecture, law, psychology, linguistics). Whatever cause it may be, whatever gifts I may have, doing everything for God. I tend to overcommit to so many things, but I am praying that in whatever I do, I may be able to serve God in helping to heal the brokenness of others as He has healed me."

- Narai

"Love Your Friends...and Your Enemies"

On Sunday, when we attended church in the Bronx, I engaged in perhaps
the most meaningful worship of my entire life. The friendliness of the
congregation reminded me of what church is supposed to look like.
During the greeting time (which was longer than any I have ever
seen!), I could not walk more than two steps without being hugged by a
warm, smiling brother or sister in Christ. The worship helped me to
connect to God in a way that I hadn't for a very long time. The
message was also quite significant. It was just what I needed. The
pastor talked about loving your enemies-- an issue I had been
struggling with for quite some time. It seemed so counter intuitive. I
understood the idea of confessing sins, repenting, and mutual
forgiveness. I even had a category for becoming friends with former
enemies, putting the past behind me, and moving forward in love. What
I had always struggled with is loving my enemies while they're still
my enemies. I know that we're called to do this, because "while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus, who had
everything already and needed nothing, was willing to sacrifice
himself for people who didn't appreciate him, who falsely accused him
every time they had the opportunity, and who eventually tortured and
killed him. I have always admired Christ's overwhelming,
unconditional, sacrificial love, but I have never been able to
understand quite what it would look like for me to emulate it. There
are certain people I just can't imagine loving, especially if they
have no intentions of repenting. I want to love them, but I can't
figure out a way to make myself do it. During the message, I realized
that, at the point when I can come to grips with the fact that I can't
do it on my own, I am able to invite God in to help me love my enemies
like He loved us while we were his enemies. At that point, I depend
completely on him and allow him to work in me and through me, making
me more like him. As I said at the beginning of the project, it is my
desire to reflect God's character through my actions, loving people
with his love (even those whom I would normally deem unlovely). The
pastor's message reminded me that actions speak louder than words, and
that my character as expressed through my actions will have a bigger
impact on the people around me than will anything I say. Saying "I
forgive you" is not enough. I need to invite God into my situation,
ask him to help me to love my enemies, and then truly love them the
way that He would.