Anti-Human Trafficking and Black Lives Matter
Yvonne Zimmerman, PhD & Hannah Estabrook, MA, LPCC-S | September 22 | 11:45 AM-12:45 PM
Topic: Direct Service, Conceptual | Knowledge Level: Intermediate
The Black Lives Matter movement poses some serious challenges to the anti-trafficking movement. Putting clinical and judicial experiences with human trafficking survivors in conversation with academic theory and reflection, this presentation will explore some of the racialized history of today’s anti-trafficking movement through attention to the influence of the social purity movement, and especially its preoccupation with “white slavery” on today’s anti-trafficking movement (Blakemore, 2019; Clark, 1991; Dozema, 2000, 2010; Irwin, 2000; Pascoe, 1990; Zimmerman 2013). In light of the need to address systemic racism, attention will be given to the ways the movement continues to be impacted by racism (Banks, Duren & Kyckelhahn, 2011; Butler, 2015; Kim, 2020; Ritchie & Jones-Brown, 2017). Participants will be invited to consider their own biases and blind spots when it comes to the movement, with the goal of developing antiracist practices of activism and advocacy.
Presentation Objectives:
· Describe some of the overtly racist history of the modern anti-trafficking movement, and modern-day implications
· Discuss next steps for service providers and the agencies for whom they work toward equitable postures, policies, and practices
· Explain the intersection of anti-human trafficking with other social justice movements including today’s Black Lives Matter movement