by Karen Van Fossan, Communications Director
Sex
traffickers in North Dakota have been ahead of us for years. Advocacy organizations like PCAND have had our hands full working to promote
healthy families and prevent the hardships, like child abuse and neglect, which
we already understand. The recent increase in sex trafficking in our state –
following the oil boom but not restricted to it – has taken us by storm. That’s
why the recent Human Trafficking Summit in Bismarck was, simply put, such a big
deal.
Like
others from founding organizations of the FUSE coalition, I worked the
registration table and got to meet many of the 200 attendees first hand –
survivors, advocates, law enforcement, service providers, faith leaders,
educators, and more, from across North Dakota and adjoining tribal nations. I
was also encouraged to see many state legislators, Attorney General
Wayne Stenehjem, U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon, and staffers from
U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s office.
At
the Summit, the idea was to pool our knowledge and also learn from those in
other parts of the country who’ve been at this work a while. Here are 10 quotes,
in the order I heard them, that continue to speak to me:
1.
“The same individuals who are being trafficked in the west [of North Dakota]
are being trafficked in the east. They’re on a circuit.”
–
Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Fargo
2.
“In our agency, we have seen two to three women who have been trafficked from
other countries. They fear deportation.”
3.
“These guys [traffickers] are experts. These guys are as smart at their jobs as
we are, except they don’t have rules to follow.”
–
Rob Fontenot, special agent with the ND Bureau of Criminal Investigation
4.
“To pimps, girls are a commodity. They trade them frequently.”
–
Rob Fontenot
5.
“We know that traffickers will hang out near homeless shelters for youth,
looking for victims.”
–
Mark Heinert, LSW, Homeless Programs Manager for Youthworks
6.
“These are absolutely intelligent businessmen who are in the business of
trafficking.”
–
Windie Lazenko, member of the National Survivor Network, founder and executive
director of 4her North Dakota
7.
“A lot of men who purchased sex in the Bakken for the first time who never
thought they would – they did so because they were traumatized themselves.”
–
Windie Lazenko
8.
“‘Prostitute’ is a word you want to remove from your vocabulary. At Breaking
Free, we believe prostitution is sexual violence. The same tactics of power and
control are used.”
9.
“If you ask a victim of sex trafficking about her pimp, she’ll say she doesn’t
have one. To her, he’s her boo – her boyfriend. As a pimp, his job is to become
whatever it is that’s missing in your life.”
–
Joy Friedman
10.
“Of the sex trafficking survivors at Breaking Free, 75% were physically abused
as children; 75-85% were victims of child sexual abuse, incest, or rape.”
–
Joy Friedman
While
these quotes are not generally uplifting, I reflect on the Summit with a sense
of hope – for three reasons:
1.
Crimes like sex trafficking happen when we don’t have the infrastructure, the
systems, to prevent them. When we come together as a diverse coalition, we
build that infrastructure. As Steve Wilborn, member of the Uniform Law Commission, insisted, “The work that FUSE has done is the most important thing to get good legislation passed in North
Dakota.”
2.
We can only address problems like sex trafficking when we understand them. Thanks
to the Summit, 200+ movers and shakers in North Dakota now have a deeper
understanding.
3.
Sex trafficking, I am learning, is not so different from other
forms of abuse that we do know how to address. We are not so far behind.
Meanwhile,
I am saddened to know of the untold children, women, and men who are victims of
sex trafficking in North Dakota, as well as the untold adults who capitalize on
and create this victimization.
But
we are catching up.
~*~
If
you think you, or someone you know, might be caught in trafficking of any kind, call 1-888-373-7888 or text INFO or HELP to BeFree (233733):
Karen Van Fossan, Communications Director for PCAND, directs our faith-based initiatives while completing her M.Div. through United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
Embarking on a new journey can be exciting, yet have moments
of uneasiness. For me, I was extremely ecstatic when I was asked by a former
supervisor to join her team to implement a new home visiting program on
Spirit Lake Nation. I accepted the
position in November 2014. I soon discovered feelings of uneasiness because I
never imagined that our program would grow so fast in such a short period of
time. 
