Child Prostitution In Your Backyard

Dan Rather shares a disturbing story at The Huffington Post. We often think of child prostitution or abusive child labor as something relegated to the Middle East, parts of Africa, or China. Well, Rather found it happening far closer to home:

In covering news for more than 60 years, I’d like to think that few stories shock me anymore. But this is one of them. We ran across it late last year and the more we dug, the more disturbing it became.

Eighty-year-old men paying a premium to violate teenage girls, sometimes supplied by former drug gangs now into child sex trafficking big time? You’ve got to be kidding. Nope. That’s happening and a lot more along the same lines.

The business is booming. One of the worst areas for it runs along lines running roughly from Seattle to Portland, to San Francisco and Los Angeles, to Las Vegas. But no place in the country is immune.

To pick just one example among many, Portland, Oregon is without doubt one of the nation’s treasures. It has been voted one of the best places to live and work. But according to police, the city and its outlying communities has become a hub for the sexual exploitation of children. In a recent nationwide sting by Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, Portland ranked second in the country for the number of rescued child prostitutes. And according to Doug Justus, the workhorse sergeant in charge of Portland’s tiny Vice Detail, many of the children caught up in this are middle class kids from the area.

Rather goes on to explain how these tragedies begin: A man begins to date a young girl, buying her gifts and doting on her. He convinces her to move in with him and then, on the pretense of struggling to pay the rent, he gets her to begin turning tricks.

How often does this happen? A scary amount. The estimates range from about 100,000 and 300,000 America children are being shopped about right now. This is a serious problem even in our “modern” country, and it is encouraged by the over-sexualization of our culture and the disintegration of strong communities and families. Read Rather’s story (click here), pray for these young people, and pay attention to your neighbors.

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