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GETTING DOWN With Aids Walk NY 2012!!
It’s May! And for GET DOWN, that means it’s time for Aids Walk NY, the largest single-day AIDS fundraising event in the world. Founded by GMHC, the world’s first AIDS service organization, the 10-kilometer walkathon was designed to raise urgently needed funds for GMHC, and to battle the stigma so many associated with HIV/AIDS. The event took place on May 18, 1986 at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, Fordham University’s Robert Moses Plaza, and the streets of the Upper West Side. Today, the AIDS Walk begins and ends in Central Park. In its 27 years, AIDS Walk New York has inspired nearly 845,000 people to walk, and millions more to donate, raising more than $122 million to combat HIV and AIDS. The funds raised at the event remain a vital lifeline that sustains GMHC’s prevention, care, and advocacy programs for the thousands of men, women, and families affected by the disease in the tri-state area.
WHY DO WE WALK? Because Half of all new HIV infections
in the U.S. occur in people 25 years of age or younger.
GET DOWN is just beginning. We are grassroots. You can read all about us here getdownpsa.blogspot.com, friend us at facebook.com/getdownpsa and follow us on twitter.com/getdownpsa. The GET DOWN PSAs are on You Tube and on our sites as well.
We are walking with TEAM FACES NY (#0638) and are proud to have met so many young people at the Brooklyn Youth Conference that want to walk with us!
Please go here to donate to GET DOWN creator and executive producer Kim J. Ford’s page: http://aidswalknewyork2012.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1000060&lis=1&kntae1000060=B930CD2C388249B6A1F4B6CE1518A3DE&supId=289403036
The GET DOWN team is thanking you in advance for standing with us in the fight against HIV/AIDS and helping spread awareness among youth and young adults.
–The GET DOWN Team
getdownpsa2008@gmail.com
Sex and Politics: The Condom Debate
The issue of contraception and women’s reproductive rights are not new to the presidential election debate, but President Obama’s recent contraceptive mandate stoked the fire among conservative candidates. The federal mandate would require that all employees of insured religiously affiliated institutions (i.e. schools and hospitals) receive free contraceptives in their health plan. Many religious conservatives saw this as a direct attack. Like nearly every politician to grace the American spotlight, former presidential candidate Rick Santorum was no exception. And, it was Santorum’s highly conservative and absolutist view on the issue of contraception that separated him from his former GOP competitors in the race for the presidency. According to a Huffington Post article titled “Rick Santorum Contraception Stance Remains Out Of Step With Nation,” released in February of this year, “He [Santorum] believes states should be free to ban them [condoms] if they want. He argues that the Supreme Court erred when it ruled in 1965 that married Americans have a right to privacy that includes the use of contraceptives.” Santorum supports this view through his strong Christian faith, in which he believes access to contraception ultimately encourages permissive sexual activity.
The Huffington Post indeed had it right when they claimed Santorum to be “out of step” with the majority of the nation. In this case, we are not talking about abortion, despite the fact that Santorum planned to deny women this access, too. In this case, we are referring to the basic methods of contraception, which include the Pill, condom and various other methods that are utilized by 99 percent of American women to prevent pregnancy in addition to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, according to the Guttmacher Institute. But before we can examine the dangers that a ban in contraception poses to the American public, we must first distinguish how this issue differs from that of abortion.
Within the political sphere, we so often associate the issues of abortion and contraception to one another, many times blurring the lines between the two and classifying them as one sole topic of debate. But what Santorum’s unique stance on contraception control proves, however, is that these two issues stand greatly apart from one another. One of them relates to the HIV/AIDS epidemic (and other STDs), a fact that is not only overlooked, but many times disregarded entirely when these two topics of debate are addressed together. And that is the issue at the heart of his belief system: The issue of access to contraception.
Santorum’s belief centers on the fact that condoms are used solely as a means of birth control; or rather, that the use of a condom provides one with “a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,” ultimately allowing people to act without the intent of procreating. In order to test the validity of his assumption, I randomly selected 20 male friends and asked them what they believed to be the number one purpose of putting on a condom before sexual intercourse. In other words, what is the most important reason for utilizing this form of contraception? To my surprise, 17 out of the 20 young men answered to prevent pregnancy. I was relieved to find that all 20 admitted to using a condom on a regular basis, but was shocked to find that pregnancy was their number one concern. What about sexually transmitted diseases? What about incurable viruses such as HIV that, once acquired, one will have to live with forever? Aren’t these legitimate dangers? Why have so many of these young men, and Santorum himself, failed to consider this fact?
As “out of step” as Santorum may be, his belief highlights a few important truths: that the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is not at the forefront of concerns regarding sexual health among the American public today. That more young men are willing to put on a condom to prevent an unwanted pregnancy than to prevent acquiring a deadly sexually transmitted disease. That too often, the ethics surrounding contraception control are dictated by religious views that are more than out of sync with reality. As we continue to make advancements in the field of HIV/AIDS research, it is important that we utilize what we know to prevent the further spread of this disease. And what we do know is that using a condom can help keep this disease under control. So regardless of the beliefs one may hold, we cannot deny the obvious truth: that using a condom can prevent HIV/AIDS. And that alone can save lives.
–Rebecca Florcyzk
GET DOWN Youth Blogger In Chief
florczy3@tcnj.edu
Posted in AIDS, FACES NY, MANDATE, PREGNANGY, RELIGION, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, Uncategorized
Rebecca Gets Tested: Women’s HIV Awareness Month
A few weeks ago, three of my college housemates and I were hanging out in our living room as we usually do on Sunday evenings. Only on this night, our conversation took a turn from what is usually lighthearted and playful, to a non-joking matter entirely. The three of them had confessed that night to never having gotten an STD or HIV screening in their lives. I was shocked. And before I knew it, I was scolding them as a mother does; yelling at them about the dangers of not getting checked and demanding that they make appointments first thing in the morning.
Before bed that night, I thought to myself: How could these girls, all twenty-two years of age and older, go so long without getting checked? To me, it seemed like sheer neglect of oneself. Since I was sixteen years old, I’ve been making yearly trips to my doctor for routine check-ups. I also found myself in her office sporadically over the years; some times at the end of a relationship, other times, out of the simple need to be “safe.” Either way, I was on top of my health. Or so I thought.
Long before I attended Sundae Sermon at El Museo Del Barrio on Sunday, February 26th, I was asked by my GET DOWN supervisor if I’d ever gotten an HIV screening done. The answer was no. I visited my doctor every year, was an HIV screening truly necessary? The answer to this one is yes. I, along with many people, believed that such check-ups test for HIV, when in fact, they don’t. A standard STD test will check for a number of sexually transmitted diseases, but won’t check for HIV unless you specifically ask for that screening to be done. And by the time Sunday rolled around, I knew I couldn’t leave El Museo until I had gotten my first HIV screening.
Up until that point, I had been so sure that I was healthy and free of every sexually transmitted disease imaginable. After all, I was on top of my sexual health better than anyone. But words cannot describe the feeling that overwhelmed me once I sat down in that chair. Just moments prior, I was more than certain of what the test would read. It hadn’t occurred to me until that very moment that a negative result was not guaranteed. This was my first time getting tested, so in actuality, I had no idea what the outcome would be.
An HIV screening can be conducted various ways. I had a rapid oral HIV test, in which a small swab was lightly scrapped along the walls of my mouth and then placed aside for approximately 15 minutes to produce a result. When a person is infected with HIV, their body responds by producing special proteins that fight infection, called antibodies. The oral HIV test is designed to look for these antibodies in the saliva. If antibodies are detected, it means that person has tested preliminarily positive for HIV. That’s when a tester will draw blood in order to submit for a confirmatory test. If that test comes back positive, the person being tested is HIV positive, for sure. The confirmatory test might also come back HIV negative.
After my mouth was swabbed, I had to wait 15 minutes before I could find out the result. During that time, the woman who administered the test questioned me in great detail about my past sexual experiences. My answers are then included in reporting to the Center For Disease Control (CDC) for their research reports. Each question caused my heart to beat faster and faster, for I knew that each honest answer put me at greater risk of contracting this virus. Halfway through the questioning, I started to get mad at myself; mad at a poor decision I had made one night, mad that this was my first time getting tested, mad that I had thought I was invincible to something deadly. I was not as responsible as I had thought and now I feared the results. What if it came back positive? What would I do? With each minute, I grew more and more anxious and after what felt like an eternity, I got my results. Negative.
I let out a huge sigh of relief. For years I had lived under the assumption that I was clean and HIV negative, but hadn’t known for sure until this very moment. The yearly trips to my doctor were not enough because I had never asked for an HIV screening to be done before. But now I knew and knowing is truly one of the greatest feelings in the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend that all people between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV, regardless of whether you think you’re at risk or not. According to the CDC’s 2009 statistics, women comprised 51% of the US population and accounted for 23% of new HIV infections. According to the CDC 2009 report by age, the age group 20-24 accounted for the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses, at 36.7 per 100,000 population. Those figures have increased from 2006 among those aged 15-19 and 20-24. My friends and I fall into that age group.
March is Women and Girls HIV Awareness Month, which is coordinated by the Office on Women’s Health (OWH), within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And because getting tested for HIV is this easy, there is no excuse for anyone not to. I am sure the living room conversations will be a little more interesting at my college apartment.
Just remember: No matter how you get down, protect yourself. Get tested.
To see more photos of GET DOWN at Sundae Sermon El Museo Del Barrio Kickoff:
–Rebecca Florcyzk
GET DOWN Youth Blogger In Chief
florczy3@tcnj.edu
Posted in CUENTAME, GET DOWN PSA, LGBT, POZ
GET DOWN at Sundae Sermon’s Kickoff at El Museo Del Barrio
El Museo Del Barrio was the place to be on Sunday, February 26 as Harlem Parks to Park program, the dance party series Sundae Sermon, took over El Museo Del Barrio in East Harlem, New York. Bridging the East and West sides of Harlem, the series united the community for an afternoon of soulful house music and education. GET DOWN partnered with Sundae Sermon to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and kickoff the Aids Walk Campaigns of FACES NY and Harlem United, two New York based HIV community-based organizations. GET DOWN helped organize the donations for the two charities and, along with Anita Bryant of A-Marketing, created goodie bags with donations from companies such as Fairway Market, Sokenbicha Teas, NY Sports Club of Harlem, Harlem Doggie Day Spa, Sesame Workshop, Land Yoga, Modell’s, A-Loft of Harlem and Jeffrey Richards Associates, producers of The Gershwins’ PORGY AND BESS.
Sundae Sermon will continue at El Museo Del Barrio on March 25 and April 29.
For more information on Sundae Sermon at El Museo Del Barrio, go to www.elmuseo.org or www.sundaesermon.com.
To see more images from GET DOWN at Sundae Sermon, check out http://www.facebook.com/getdownpsa, go to PHOTOS.
Read. Share. Discuss. Educate.
–Kim J. Ford
GET DOWN Creator/Executive Producer
Getdownpsa2008@gmail.com
GET DOWN CAMPAIGN PARTNERS WITH SUNDAE SERMON DANCE PARTY SERIES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GET DOWN CAMPAIGN PARTNERS WITH SUNDAE SERMON
DANCE PARTY SERIES
FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN HIV AWARENESS MONTH EVENT
WITH HIV NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
FACES NY AND HARLEM UNITED
NEW YORK, February 17, 2012 – The GET DOWN Campaign announced today that it will partner with DJ Stormin’ Norman’s Sundae Sermon Dance Party Series to kick off the indoor series this Spring and raise awareness for HIV/AIDS during Black History Month. El Museo Del Barrio will be hosting Sundae Sermon as a satellite extension of their outdoor music and film festival that runs in Harlem’s Morningside Park from June through September. This Winter/Spring 2012 Edition will connect families and communities through dance, leisure and artist exhibits. DJ Stormin’ Norman, DJ Qool Marv and other guest dj’s will be music maestros alongside live Painters, and face painting for kids. Gonzalo Casals, El Museo’s Director of Education and Public Programs comments, “We are happy to open our doors to the greater Harlem Community through this special partnership with Sundae Sermon. The kind of free programming for families that they offer aligns with El Museo’s goal and mission to make such activities accessible and meaningful for our community.” The series kicks off February 26 and continues March 25 and April 29.
DJ Stormin’ Norman, Sundae Sermon’s founder, originally hails from East London, England, and is now a resident of Harlem. In the 90’s, he was part of a groundbreaking DJ collective who set a new precedent in national radio with the “Thunderstorm Mix” on New York’s WBLS 107.5FM. The program introduced live mixing to daytime radio, previously reserved for weekend nights broadcasted from night-clubs. For over 20 years, he’s played major New York clubs, exclusive downtown spots, elite private events and world tours. Norman also has extended his brand with Sundae Sermon Foundation, Sundae Sermon Radio and Sundae Sermon Recordings. Most importantly, he’s committed to his community. A Harlem resident for over 15 years, Norman is passionate about constructively contributing to its current renaissance. “There are a lot of Harlemites who have to venture downtown or to other boroughs for this kind of experience,” Norman said. “Sundae Sermon lets us support and celebrate this great neighborhood and network, and invite the rest of the city to join the party,” he added.
To kickoff the series and raise HIV/AIDS awareness during Black History Month, Sundae Sermon partnered with the GET DOWN HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. GET DOWN, written, produced and directed by Kim J. Ford (Lionqueen 192 Productions, Inc.), is an edgy new HIV/AIDS PSA that candidly portrays sexually active youth of various sexual identities who are experimenting with multiple sexual partners and the consequences they deal with as a result. GET DOWN uses multimedia program, that utilizes viral short form content, education (in schools and extra curricular arts education), social media, blogging and – launching in 2012 – youth oriented radio, in order to educate at-risk youth about HIV, AIDS, sexual behavior and safe sex. “I’ve wanted to work with DJ Stormin Norman for a while”, says Kim J. Ford. “Sundae Sermon’s socially conscious, community oriented dance parties are the right platform for GET DOWN to spread awareness. We are proud to partner with DJ Stormin Norman on our first foray into events”. The event will be hosted by Forces of Nature Dance Theater Ensemble, and will feature live painting, kids face painting and goodie bags, which were coordinated by New York marketing entrepreneur Anita Bryant of A-Marketing and GET DOWN. The special kickoff event, will also serve as an Aids Walk Fundraiser kickoff for FACES NY and Harlem United, two Harlem based non-profit organizations, who will be on-site to accept voluntary donations. Harlem United will conduct private HIV testing on site. Sundae Sermon is brought to you by Harlem Community Development Corporation, Experience Harlem, Harlem Parks to Parks, Bikram Yoga East Harlem and Sundae Sermon Radio.
The Sundae Sermon indoor series schedule is as follows:
FEBRUARY INDOOR SERIES KICKOFF 2/26
African American HIV/AIDS Awareness Month
GET DOWN Campaign, FACES NY, Harlem United
Aids Walk Donations To Charities
MARCH NATIONAL WOMEN’S MONTH 3/25
Guest Female DJs, Music Influenced By Women
APRIL CELEBRATING JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT 4/29
Traveling Exhibit, Five Harlem Artist Pay Tribute
Live Painting
Is It A Crime? A Look At HIV Criminalization in U.S.
Brooklyn native Nushawn J. Williams was informed that he had HIV in 1996. Despite this, he was determined by health officials to have had sex with up to 75 partners. By his own unabashed admission, he actually slept with 300 women. He did not use protection in these encounters and caused an outbreak of HIV in upstate New York. [i] His youngest partner was 13 years old.[ii] By 1998, two of his partners had given birth to HIV-positive children.[iii] His case was one of the earliest involving HIV status disclosure and Nushawn became the poster child for HIV criminalization.
When you hear stories like this, the question of whether to criminalize HIV exposure seems like a no-brainer. Legislators apparently agreed; Williams’ case was cited in a number legal proposals, including requiring states to keep registries of HIV-positive residents and making it a felony not to disclose one’s positive status to sexual partners.[iv]
As of 2008, 34 states in the US have laws that allow prosecution for criminal HIV exposure. The provisions of these laws vary widely by state and by the context of exposure. In New Jersey, for example, someone who knows he or she is HIV-positive and has sex without a partner’s informed consent is guilty of a third-degree crime. This offense can be punished by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. In states such as California and Alaska, being HIV-positive can be an aggravating factor in sexual offenses.[v]
Those who argue against HIV criminalization often claim that mandating disclosure for individuals with HIV violates their right to privacy. Additionally, it can increase the stigma associated with the virus. Such laws therefore infringe on the civil rights of the HIV-positive person.[vi]
William Brawner was born with HIV and had developed AIDS by the time he was in college. Described as a ladies’ man, he had unprotected sex with numerous girls before going public with his status and participating in a documentary on his journey with AIDS. When asked in an interview with Loop 21 if he wished he had come clean sooner, Brawner responded in the negative. He said, “I think everything happens in its time. Everything has its time and has its purpose. It was just my time.”[i]
The obvious counter is that the right time would have been when Brawner first had unprotected sex. The HIV-positive person’s right to privacy ends where he or she puts another person at risk. What about the rights of this person? You didn’t bother to tell me that if I have sex with you I may end up getting a horrible disease that changes my life and that’s ok because you have a right to privacy? Really?
While the high profile Williams and Brawner cases are cited here, there are many other cases that go unreported in the media. Further, many are not as clear cut. For legal purposes, it is difficult to prove which party originally had the virus, especially when multiple partners are involved. The first person to get tested and find out his or her status may shoulder the blame, even if he or she was actually infected by someone else who was not diagnosed until later. It also possible for people to use the legal system to seek revenge against former partners who are HIV-positive.[i]
Laws that criminalize HIV exposure may have the paradoxical effect of increasing transmission. Research does not support the idea that the law plays a role in anyone’s sexual behavior. Sexual activity is often impulsive and laws based on rational analysis therefore have a very limited impact. Getting tested for HIV, on the other hand, requires deliberation and effort. Laws that impose obligations on those who know their HIV-positive status and make it possible for this status to be made public and used against them in prosecution may deter testing.[ii]
While there should be legal options for extreme cases like Nushawn Williams, criminalization is not a very useful tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We would hope that those with HIV do the right thing and be honest with their sexual partners. However, legally mandating that they do so is not an effective prevention tactic. At the end of the day, it is up to you to protect yourself.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Get tested
2. Have your partner to do the same
3. Always ask what someone’s status is before a sexual encounter
4. Be honest about your own status
5. Don’t go through with it if you don’t trust them to tell you the truth or you’re not willing to take the risk
6. Use protection
To find an HIV testing site near you, please go to http://www.hivtest.org/
–Melanie Pino-Elliott
GET DOWN Youth Blogger
mpino@sas.upenn.edu
[ii] Richard Elliott. Criminal Law, Public Health, and HIV Transmission: A Policy Options Paper. http://data.unaids.org/publications/IRC-pub02/jc733-criminallaw_en.pdf
[i] Darren Sands. “25 to Life: In New Film, Man with AIDS Confesses Unprotected Past.” http://loop21.com/life/coming-clean-hiv-postive-man-confronts-lives-he-destroyed
[i] Michael Cooper. “Drifter Says He Had Sex with up to 300.” http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/29/nyregion/drifter-says-he-had-sex-with-up-to-300.html
[ii] Jennifer Frey. “Jamestown and the Story of ‘Nushawn’s Girls.’” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/jamestown0601.htm
[iii] Richard Perez-Pena. “Two Births Lengthen List in One-Man HIV Spree.” http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/29/nyregion/two-births-lengthen-list-in-one-man-hiv-spree.html
[v] American Civil Liberties Union. State Criminal Statutes on HIV Transmission—2008. http://www.aclu.org/files/images/asset_upload_file292_35655.pdf
[vi] AVERT. Criminal Transmission of HIV. http://www.avert.org/criminal-transmission.htm
C.R.E.A.M. Human Slavery Alive And Well in U.S.
At a marketing firm in a major U.S. city, there is a 28-year-old sales representative named Todd. He works 9 to 5, drives a Hybrid, has a serious girlfriend, and spends holidays volunteering at a soup kitchen. One Saturday night, Todd attends the bachelor party of his college friend Larry, who is getting married the following weekend. The party is held at a local strip club. Todd has no intention of cheating on his girlfriend and probably wouldn’t do anything sketchy like paying for sex anyway. However, simply by paying his cover charge at the door, he unwittingly contributed to human slavery.
Sex trafficking—the illegal trade of human beings for sexual exploitation—is a global problem. It is one of the word’s largest criminal enterprises, tied with the arms market and second only to the drug trade.[i] You’ve probably heard about it. It may not surprise you that large numbers of Burmese women and children are smuggled into Thailand to work in brothels. Or that in the last few years roughly 100,000 Ukrainian women were exported into the sex trade in western Europe. Or that related problems occur in other countries across Europe and Asia, as well as Africa, Australia, and Latin America.[ii] However, sex trafficking is not the exclusively foreign problem that such statements would lead you to believe. What may surprise you is just how big this problem is in the United States.
Let us return to the strip club. One of the girls working that night, Tina, is from South Bend, Indiana. Her father was an angry, abusive man and her mother coped by drinking heavily. When Tina was 13, she met a man named Jake. He listened to her. Unlike her parents, he seemed to care about her. She quickly fell in love. After a few months of being together, he convinced her to leave her miserable horrible home life and move with him to the “big city”. When they arrived, he got her a job at the club. She became a stripper, believing him when he said it was the only way they could support themselves.
When he started insisting that she have sex with the patrons, she tried to resist. He then beat her, raped her, and chained her to the wall for several days. Both emotionally and physically under his control, she obeyed his orders. Tina now has sex with several clients a night and gives the money to Jake. She sees no way out of this life. Jake has told her that if she goes to the police, she’ll be the one in trouble. She is the prostitute, after all.
Though this story and its characters are fictional, they represent thousands of real situations across the country. Because of the underground economy and the fear and coercion used to keep victims from coming forward, statistics on sex trafficking are difficult to come by.[i] However, analysts estimate that between 100,000 and 300,000 children are sexually exploited in the US and that the average age of entry into the trade is 12 to 14 years old.[ii]
It gets worse for the club patrons with fewer reservations than Todd. Due to the nature of their work, sex trafficking victims have a comparatively high risk of HIV infection. They are forced to sell sex, usually to multiple partners and may not be given access to condoms. Additionally, the sex acts that occur are often of a riskier nature. For example, injuries inflicted during violent sex may not allowed to heal properly before future encounters, increasing susceptibility to the virus.[iii] Those who solicit sexual services from the club dancers, therefore, put themselves at risk of contracting HIV.
It is important to understand that human trafficking is very much tied to the legal sex trade. Pimps frequently start their victims off in strip clubs, massage parlors, escort services, or pornography. After progressing to prostitution, these venues provide a cover for the illegal activity.[i] What many people would declare a harmless way for guys to blow off steam in fact feeds into one of the most evil institutions in the world. Sex trafficking exists for one simple reason: it is profitable. If there were no demand, there would be no market. Patrons of the commercial sex industry, legal or illegal, are part of the demand that keeps this market alive.
Every year in January, Human Rights Organizations bring attention to Sex Trafficking around Human Trafficking Awareness Day. While the sex trade, and sale of woman and children is a global pandemic, the connection between the trade and HIV and overall sexual health must be part of the dialogue, especially in the United States.
If you believe you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, please call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-3737-888 or visit http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/national-human-trafficking-hotline/the-nhtrc/overview
To find out some of the warning signs that someone may be a trafficking victim, please see http://www.lightunderthebridge.com/Human_Trafficking.html
To learn more about human trafficking, check out http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview
–Melanie Pino-Elliott
GET DOWN Youth Blogger
mpino@sas.upenn.edu
[i] Shared Hope International. “Demand: A Comparative Examination of Sex Tourism and Trafficking in Jamaica, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States.” http://www.sharedhope.org/Portals/0/Documents/DEMAND.pdf
[i] PBS. “Estimating the Numbers.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/slaves/etc/stats.html
[iii] Amanda Kloer. “Sex Trafficking and HIV/AIDS A Deadly Junction for Women and Girls.” http://www.americanbar.org/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/irr_hr_spring10_kloer.html
[i] Chuck Neubauer. “Sex Trafficking in the U.S. Called ‘Epidemic.’” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/23/sex-trafficking-us-called-epidemic/?page=all
[ii] Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. http://www.catwinternational.org/factbook/index.php
Protecting Our Boys 3: Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?
EDITOR’S NOTE:
In part three of GET DOWN’s series Protecting Our Boys, we question whether parents and caregivers are pro-active in investigating their minor child’s extra-curricular activities and after school programs. Take a read.
All That Glitters isn’t Gold.
It’s 3pm, school’s out – do you know where your children are? After school and extra-curricular activities used to be where young people honed their unique talents, showed athletic prowess and often served as creative outlets for young people. I was a product of the Carter Administration, which provided an abundance of youth programs. It was my introduction to participating in activities outside of my home that only included my family members. Those programs afforded me additional nurturing that eventually led to me becoming a professional actor at the age of ten.
Those years were formative years that developed me into the man that I am today. I was thrust into situations that exposed me to a variety of adults, some healthy mentors and others who knew nothing about a child being a child. It was the involvement of my family though that provided the security needed to help protect me from outside forces. Now, after school and community program often serve as a dumping ground for young people whose parents or guardians are not active in their lives.
Two weeks ago, Patrick Lott, a middle school vice principal was arrested on charges of invasion of privacy, and more than two dozen charges of endangering the welfare of a child for videotaping male students showering nude at Immaculata High School in Somerville, NJ where he serves as “volunteer coach” and videographer. In another high profile case, alleged pedophile and former Penn State assistant coach Sandusky was accused of using his Second Mile youth foundation as a way to find his victims.
One area I know we can all support to ward off these hideous acts is active parenting. Now this is not to place blame on parents alone, but it is the parents who are the primary caregivers in a child’s life. Too often we as parents trust our children to adults and programs that we know nothing about or haven’t thoroughly investigated. Many predators are trusted individuals in respected programs.
I know as a parent I want my children to be in a reputable program where they are safe and engaged in productive activities. As is common we are all over worked and challenged with the daily task of making it through daily life. Having our children in a program or mentored seems to solve a big problem of “what is my child doing when I’m not around”, but again how thoroughly have we look into the program and the people that service our children?
As a parent it is our responsibility to do the extra homework. How much do we really know about the organization, institution, or adults that our children encounter regularly? I have and currently oversee youth programs where I have never had any contact with the parents. Do we even know the names of the adults we entrust our children? What are our roles as parents and how do we get the necessary information that is needed?
As a parent, primary caregiver of my partners’ children, and having mentored hundreds of children over the years; I can say communication with our children is key. I am the parent, the adult, and it is my sole responsibility to take care of my child. It is my job to be nosey and ask as many questions as needed to both my child and the overseers of my children. How often have I visited the program of my child? How often do I communicate with the program and the adults? What actually are the scheduled activities and the timeline of the program day?
These are questions I wished parents would ask me when I am solely responsible for their child while in my programs. Yendor Productions works with children of all ages in performing, visual, and wellness arts programs. Children are trusted to my programs to not only learn various art forms from theatre, photography, and poetry just to name a few but to be safe in their role as the child and student.
Recently, my godchildren wanted to bring a friend to a sleepover at my house. I explained that I would need to meet the parents so they would feel safe about their nine year old being with a total stranger for the weekend. In their defense, they are close to my kids mother, but don’t know me from a can of paint. I met the father asked if she could come over the following weekend for a sleepover. He replied sure but never asked for my full name or address. What?!!!
It takes the additional work and as I stated earlier communication and being the parent has served me best as a father and educator. I let my children and the youth that are in my program know that I care but that it is my responsibility to make sure that they are safe.
–Rodney Gilbert
Founder
Yendor Productions
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