The poster for the screening of Carlon Harris’s documentary. Photo courtesy of the African American Studies Program at UABMark Linn - Copy Editorcopy@insideuab.com
On Thursday, Sept. 15, African-American studies major and honors college student Carlon Harris screened his documentary in Heritage Hall on the growing problem of human trafficking in Birmingham.
Harris’s documentary was a part of a required thesis for African-American studies honors students. He said that he picked human trafficking as a topic to help bring awareness to the problem.
“I chose human trafficking because no one really knows about it and one of our primary goals for this documentary was to educate people and also stir up the conversation about human trafficking, because it is such a new human rights issue and a lot of people don’t know about it,” Harris said.
The documentary screening was hosted by the African American Studies Program in the College of Arts and Scienes and was followed by a short panel discussion that included Helen Smith, an FBI specialist on human trafficking and Robert Blanton, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Government who teaches a course on human trafficking.
To combat and to bring awareness to the problem of human trafficking in Alabama, the city of Birmingham partnered with the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign in January as part of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
“People call it a black market, because much of it is unseen and if you don’t know what to look for you really don’t necessarily know what’s going on,” Harris said.
The Blue Campaign partners with law enforcement, government and private organizations to educate the public to recognize and report human trafficking, as well as to provide training to law enforcement and others to increase detection, according to the campaign’s website. Campaign materials were posted at transportation hubs throughout the city as well as distributed to public safety personnel.
Harris said that one of the things that surprised him are the identities of the victims of human trafficking, and the misconception that all human trafficking is part of the sex trade.
“I came into it, [and] you know, you talk about the sex trade, especially in other countries, you automatically assume, ‘oh it’s just dealing with a woman or a young girl,’” Harris said. “But it affects women, men, young boys and girls as well.”
The documentary was introduced by Kathryn Morgan, Ph.D., the director of the African-American studies program and associate professor of criminal justice, who advised Harris on his thesis.
“We’re living in changing times, and on college campuses we have to be cognizant of our surroundings and cognizant of the people that we interact with,” Morgan said. “Because that was probably one of the most alarming things to me, was that this happened to this victim on a college campus.”
Harris hopes that the documentary will help bring awareness to the problem of human trafficking in the Birmingham area.
“I really hope that they walk away seeing the severity of the problem. And not thinking that it’s an issue that we can skate over,” Morgan said. “Because it’s affecting our children, it’s affecting the economy, it’s affecting a lot of aspects of life and the livelihood of everyone around us. That’s one thing I want them to take away from it, and I also sort of want to clear up some misconceptions.”
Human trafficking is a major problem in the U.S. that has just recently come to the attention of the general public. Forty percent of what have been identified as major hubs for trafficking are located in the Southeast, according to the Wellhouse, a Leeds-based shelter that offers assistance to women victims of human trafficking.
Alabama has had a human trafficking law since 2010. Before that, any violations had to be prosecuted under federal law. This year, the Alabama State House and Senate passed HB433, The Safe Harbor Act, which seeks to protect children engaging in prostitution while increasing penalties on those convicted of promoting prostitution.
