It was a process that didn't
happen overnight. My mother started
grooming me into the pedophilic
culture where random
co-workers, as they were called,
would come over and cross my personal
boundaries, call me by a female
name. And I feel just due to
the mass confusion that was
going on in my mind, I
dove deeper into abusing
methamphetamines at a very young age.
Trafficker 2 his techniques didn't
just start overnight either. It
was a slow and enduring process
of like dropping subtle hints.
You know, "why don't we
get your mom out of the
picture, so you can always have
the family you always wanted in your
life?" And, you know, not only
that, but he was a really
good reader of looking at the
dynamics between me and my mother
and how broken they were.
Don't get me wrong, when my
exploitation happened, human trafficking
wasn't even on anybody's radar.
The sad thing,
you know, I've had this
recurring throughout my whole
life, like what could have been
different? You know, what's the
would've, should've could've.
For one, I think when CPS
came through, they should have
recognized the red flag that my
trafficker was not leaving me alone
with them. So I kinda like felt
even though I could have
probably explained my side of the
story. My side of the story
didn't even feel like it was
needed nor needed any validation.
The second thing too is
when I got caught up in the
juvenile justice system instead
of you know, wondering
why I'm overreacting to a male
service provider, maybe having like
some kind of mediator come in
and asking me why am I
overly reacting to a male service
provider asking me all these questions.
And third, and most, is
when I was in the foster care
system, there could have been
a way of me transitioning into
something else. There was nothing
for me to transition into.
So I had to go back to
ultimately what I knew, was a life
back with my mother and, you know, after
my trafficking situation, because
there really were no proper
interventions, I built a persona to
where I wouldn't be messed with
and that's where I quickly got
acculturated to the street culture.
Gangbanging culture. Which is, you
know, which intersects with human
trafficking a lot. Because of how young
I was and when my trafficking
happened, there really was no system
in place, it was just
reported as child sexual abuse,
not human trafficking. When it
comes to identifying human
trafficking. I think Hollywood and
social media doesn't really send
out the true message about how
trafficking has happened. The reality
is, is that a majority of
us that are groomed into human
trafficking, we know our exploiters.
The other misconception too,
is that, you know, I'm
not saying that it doesn't
happen, but like random strangers
in a van picking up children.
You know, I mean, I can't
100% say that that doesn't happen
and I think honestly with the
narrative that's been spinned for the
past four years from leadership,
you know, there's been a
real misconception with the QAnon
theories of how human
trafficking happens. And I think another
misunderstanding too is uh...people think
that they're gonna be able to
see a trafficker and people that
are being exploited out in
public and that's a sad reality,
that that's not the truth.
They want to fit in as normal
society as much as they can.
It sounds so simple, but
it's really more complex than it
is, it's just to believe
survivors no matter what.