A Modern Day Abolitionist

George and I recently toured the Slave Mart in Charleston, South Carolina, a museum dedicated to helping people understand what slavery is and the suffering it causes. It was a powerful experience, and I walked away with greater insight into the dehumanizing effects of the evil institution called slavery.

In all of the nearly 200 years of transatlantic slave trade, from 1619 to 1807, there were 500,000 African slaves brought to North America. When slavery in America ended at the end of the Civil War in 1865, African American slaves were set free, but they were far from fully emancipated from the dehumanizing consequences of generations of slavery. It took a hundred years of struggle built upon the legacy of great abolitionists such as Fredrick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, and Sojourner Truth, and it took the great vision and selfless leadership of great civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. to bring about in the 1960's greater liberation from the vestiges of slavery in America.

We know that it was Christians, Quakers and others, who in large measure led the pre-Civil War abolitionist movement, but we also know that for the most part the church stood ambivalent and silent on the sidelines during the American Civil Rights Movement. History shows us that at times of great cultural change we as the church do not always recognize that moment in time when God would have us represent His heart by showing compassion, relieving suffering and being His mouthpiece to speak out against injustice. We are at such a moment in history when we as Christians will represent what is on God's heart concerning social issues and injustices in our world or we will become irrelevant to our culture.

One such enormous injustice is modern day slavery. Today, worldwide there are 27 million people trapped in slavery, in one form or another. It may not look like the slavery we are familiar with, but individuals and families are held against their will under threat of violence or death and made to labor without pay. They have lost their autonomy, freedom, and basic human dignity. They are bought and sold as the property of other human beings. By definition, this is slavery.

Slavery has many faces. Today, whole families labor in brick yards in India. Girls as young as five are kidnapped and sold into brothels in Cambodia to satisfy the lust of people engaged in sex tourism, most of these Americans and Europeans. There have been thousands of children kidnapped, brainwashed, and made to serve as boy soldiers and ruthless killers in the army of madman Joseph Kony in Uganda. See the full length video, Invisible Children, a documentary on these children at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643 .

All of these are slaves. And for those who think slavery is a thing of the past here in America, an estimated 14,500-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the US each year. They are brought here for commercial sex, housekeeping, or agricultural work. Go to http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/ , for more information about human trafficking here in the United States. Christians should not be silent about modern day slavery and human trafficking. Such an outrage should never be tolerated in a civilized world, and Christians should be out in the forefront, shining the light to lead the way for others to follow.

When I consider becoming involved in relieving the suffering of the people trapped in slavery, I could wonder how I, one individual, could make any impact on a problem so enormous. I would like to introduce you to Josh Hunter, a high school student who started the movement, Loose Change to Loosen Chains. He is a modern day abolitionist and a great inspiration to me. He asked students to collect their loose change and donate it to loosen the chains of those held in bondage. He reminds us that every person who cares can help bring liberation, restoration, and human dignity to the victims of modern day slavery.

I am writing this to declare that I too am a modern day abolitionist because God cares about the oppressed and those suffering from injustice and wants the church to be His instrument for putting an end to the oppression.

To learn more about modern day slavery and for information about how to be involved, see http://www.ijm.org/ , International Justice Mission.