WEBVTT

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It was a process that didn't

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happen overnight. My mother started

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grooming me into the pedophilic

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culture where random

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co-workers, as they were called,

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would come over and cross my personal

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boundaries, call me by a female

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name. And I feel just due to

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the mass confusion that was

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going on in my mind, I

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dove deeper into abusing

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methamphetamines at a very young age.

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Trafficker 2 his techniques didn't

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just start overnight either. It

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was a slow and enduring process

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of like dropping subtle hints.

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You know, "why don't we

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get your mom out of the

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picture, so you can always have

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the family you always wanted in your

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life?" And, you know, not only

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that, but he was a really

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good reader of looking at the

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dynamics between me and my mother

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and how broken they were.

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Don't get me wrong, when my

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exploitation happened, human trafficking

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wasn't even on anybody's radar.

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The sad thing,

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you know, I've had this

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recurring throughout my whole

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life, like what could have been

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different? You know, what's the

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would've, should've could've.

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For one, I think when CPS

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came through, they should have

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recognized the red flag that my

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trafficker was not leaving me alone

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with them. So I kinda like felt

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even though I could have

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probably explained my side of the

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story. My side of the story

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didn't even feel like it was

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needed nor needed any validation.

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The second thing too is

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when I got caught up in the

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juvenile justice system instead

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of you know, wondering

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why I'm overreacting to a male

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service provider, maybe having like

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some kind of mediator come in

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and asking me why am I

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overly reacting to a male service

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provider asking me all these questions.

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And third, and most, is

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when I was in the foster care

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system, there could have been

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a way of me transitioning into

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something else. There was nothing

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for me to transition into.

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So I had to go back to

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ultimately what I knew, was a life

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back with my mother and, you know, after

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my trafficking situation, because

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there really were no proper

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interventions, I built a persona to

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where I wouldn't be messed with

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and that's where I quickly got

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acculturated to the street culture.

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Gangbanging culture. Which is, you

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know, which intersects with human

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trafficking a lot. Because of how young

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I was and when my trafficking

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happened, there really was no system

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in place, it was just

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reported as child sexual abuse,

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not human trafficking. When it

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comes to identifying human

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trafficking. I think Hollywood and

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social media doesn't really send

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out the true message about how

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trafficking has happened. The reality

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is, is that a majority of

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us that are groomed into human

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trafficking, we know our exploiters.

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The other misconception too,

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is that, you know, I'm

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not saying that it doesn't

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happen, but like random strangers

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in a van picking up children.

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You know, I mean, I can't

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100% say that that doesn't happen

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and I think honestly with the

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narrative that's been spinned for the

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past four years from leadership,

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you know, there's been a

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real misconception with the QAnon

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theories of how human

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trafficking happens. And I think another

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misunderstanding too is uh...people think

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that they're gonna be able to

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see a trafficker and people that

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are being exploited out in

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public and that's a sad reality,

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that that's not the truth.

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They want to fit in as normal

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society as much as they can.

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It sounds so simple, but

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it's really more complex than it

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is, it's just to believe

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survivors no matter what.