Law National. Friday, March 15, Johnson said that Thompson was recruiting young women in high school in Sioux Falls. He made them feel like somebody cared about them. He promised them all sorts of things. For many, it was the first time there was a strong male in their life. Johnson said that the problem in SD has mostly been in Sioux Falls, and that state and local law enforcement have been working together. It will happen. We all have to be vigilant. Yet, much of the conference also centered on the responsibility of the men involved in prostitution, not simply the women as has been true in the past.
We just convicted a guy of five counts of sex trafficking a few weeks ago, another two guys are standing trial in a month, and there is yet another guy with nine ongoing investigations. The conference offered a full picture of women who have been trafficked, sometimes as children and wives within their own home.
Local areas identified for sex trafficking include events that bring outsiders into the area, including the Sturges Rally, truck stops, hunting season and the Stock Show. However, the speakers pointed out that trafficking can also happen within the family, and through the internet.
For those who believe that prostitution is a choice or a profession, statistics showed that most prostitution begins with deception and trickery, and all too often targets girls or women who have been victims before. Somewhere between the lines of society is a disconnect with our humanness, with our view towards sex and our entitlement to it.
It is sexual violence. The group started having community dialogues, with survivors coming in to share their experiences. We heard from women in their 60s, and women in their 20s. We heard about parties on the ships, and how women were being enticed to the ships and never seen or heard from again. Native women were being brought from tribal communities to urban areas. Programs that moved Natives from reservations into cities in the s and the boarding schools created the long history of removing Native Americans from the security of homelands, family, culture and tribes, and has had a disastrous effect.
