The dark side of a popular tool

CNN reports on the recent shaming of Craigslist for being an avenue for sex trafficking of minors. "Craigslist is like the Wal-Mart of online sex trafficking right now in this country," said Andrea Powell of the anti-trafficking group The FAIR Fund in this CNN interview last week.

Soon after that interview, human rights organization The Rebecca Project  wrote a letter from the perspective of two young women who were sold regularly on Craigslist, urging the website's founder to shut down the "adult services" section. The letter ran as a full-page ad in The Washington Post.

"According to the most recent Department of Justice statistics, an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 children are sold for sex every year in the United States. Most are from 11 and 14 years old," writes Malika Saada Saar, founder of the Rebecca Project, in the August 4th opinion piece for CNN Craigslist's shame: Child sex ads. "Try for a moment to imagine your fifth-grade child, niece or sister sold for sex."



At the 3:38 mark in the video segment of CNN's story, journalist Amber Lyon confronts "the Craig of 'Craigslist'" and asks "what are you guys doing to protect these girls?" He stands speechless and motionless, unable or unwilling to say anything. He then tries to put the onus on Lyon to report the inappropriate ads, to which she points out that his site is the one publishing and promising to take action against such pitches. He gets so uncomfortable he paces in front of the camera for an awkward 30 seconds before ultimately walking away in silence.

Craigslist responds to criticism in this opinion piece.

A Conflicted Fourth

Each Fourth of July, regardless of my location in the world, I have worn my colors, sang the songs, watched the fireworks and felt very patriotic. I'd think of the brave men and women who put everything on the line to found this country, risking liberty and life, (in the case of men) leaving wife and children to draw up the documents we still refer to today, and then fight battles in primitive conditions to defend the rights they declared.

I'd think of the men and women who continue to put their lives on the line to defend U.S. interests and the sacrifices they make. Having kept in touch with my friend while he serves in Afghanistan, I have new respect and appreciation for everything that entails.

While I am still a proud American, this Fourth was completely different for me. Watching the fireworks was the only thread of continuity linking me to years past. What's different now is that my vision's gone from 2-D to 3-D. Added to the cardboard cutouts of our founding fathers frozen in their moments of glory is a crowd of faces behind them - each with its own heartbreaking tragedy to tell: being sold like livestock, daily life steeped in condescension, lashings, losing family members to the auction block or at the hands of a bigot, and the death of dreams. Now I replay the parades, flag-waving, speeches about liberty and God's role in this young nation at the same time that this quilt of heartbreak and horror is going on in plain sight -- and it makes it impossible for me to celebrate the holiday as I used to. I'm not trying to be a downer, I just feel like we need to be telling the whole story in context because otherwise it's propaganda. Without context, it's an insult to the memory of the faces in that crowd and a disservice to the future of this country.