passover
Slavery
Today?
From Hebrew slaves in Egypt to
modern-day human trafficking and lax labor laws.
LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
W
experience at all.”
hat does slavery mean to us today?
She started the clinic in 2009; now it is
At the seder on Passover, “the
staffed by three law professors and from 16-24
season of our freedom,” when we
law students.
celebrate release “from the house of bondage,”
Jewish families gather to discuss freedom and
slavery. That discussion has now, as always,
EXPLOITED WORKERS
relevance. What does slavery mean to us
The headlines emphasize sex workers, but
today?
Carr says she has seen badly exploited work-
In this country, the 13th Amendment to the
ers in a wide variety of industries: nail salons,
Constitution, passed in 1865, outlawed “slavery landscapers, restaurants, food processing
and involuntary servitude.” We do not typically plants, janitorial services, farms, hair-braiding
see examples of classical slavery anymore: no
services, and on and on. “It is harder to find
slave auctions, no manacles keeping work-
an industry where I’ve never seen compulsion
ers at their work stations, no gangs searching
and exploitation,” she says.
for runaways to bring them back in chains,
The headlines emphasize undocumented
no advertisements in newspapers offering
immigrants, but “plenty of legal residents and
rewards for the return of escaped slaves.
U.S. citizens get exploited,” Carr says.
But we do have workers in slave-like
“Youth, poverty, lack of access to
conditions. Bridgette Carr, clinical
markets, personal history of abuse
professor at the University of Michigan
and trauma, all create vulnerability.
Law School and director of the Human
“Exploiters are skilled at finding
Trafficking Clinic, knows more about
vulnerability. Traffickers do not gen-
these workers than she ever expected to
erally feel distressed if they lose a vic-
find out.
tim. They can easily find a replace-
Carr came to law school wanting to
ment. There is not much danger that
Bridgette Carr
work in asylum and refugee law.
the trafficker will get into trouble. It
“When I was contacted by women who
is hard to find a prosecutor willing
had been forced to work in a strip club
to take on a criminal case against
on Eight Mile Road in Detroit, I tried to turn
a trafficker, even if the victim wants to pros-
them down: It was not my specialty,” Carr said. ecute, and many victims do not.”
“They had trouble finding representation.
The victims have reason to want to remain
Eventually, I agreed to represent a few of these
silent.
clients.”
“If there is a case,” Carr says, “the victims
That case attracted nationwide media atten- are always on trial: Are they the perfect vic-
tion because, as Carr explains, “the women
tims? Did they never make bad choices? If
were white, college-age and the case involved
not, watch out. The system scrutinizes every
sex.” The women thought they were coming
thought, belief and choice of the victim, when
to the U.S. from Eastern Europe for legitimate
it should put on trial the thoughts, beliefs and
employment. When they got here, the traffick-
choices of the trafficker.”
ers explained the job had dried up, and the
So, prosecutors might decide not to pros-
women had to work off the expenses for their
ecute, not trusting a jury to convict a wealthy,
travel. The traffickers took their passports.
articulate, successful businessman on the
The case developed when a few women
testimony of poor, unsuccessful workers who
escaped. It was the first federal prosecution of
might be ill, inarticulate, foreign, addicted to
traffickers in Michigan. As it turned out, Carr
drugs and probably feel ashamed.
says, “It was a totally atypical case.”
Carr calls attention to highways in Michigan,
“Since then, I have never had a case that
where you can see big billboards with mes-
checked all the boxes like that one,” she says.
sages like:
“But, after that one case, other cases came to
Oriental Spa. Open 9 a.m.-1 a.m.
me. I was an expert for having the experience
Parking for Tractor-trailers.
of that one case. When I looked around, I real-
“What is the message to us as we drive by
ly was a relative ‘expert’ because others had no those billboards?” Carr asks. “Who is for sale?
continued on page 58
56
March 29 • 2018
jn
Taking Action
What can an ordinary citizen do?
Bridgette Carr of the Human Trafficking
Clinic at U-M, says, “Watch the
rhetoric. Rhetoric matters. When
we commodify people, we help the
exploiters. If we call people ‘illegals,’
we push them into the camp of
‘others,’ who are no concern of ours.
Then we do the work of the traffickers.
“In this discussion, there is no
neutral. We either give each individual
human dignity, acknowledge that each
individual has human dignity or we
take away human dignity from ‘others.’
“When we do not acknowledge the
human dignity of certain people, we
take away human dignity and do the
work of the exploiter.”
What if you see an exploitive
situation? Call the National Human
Trafficking Resource Center at
1-888-373-7888. It offers one-stop
“shopping” for reporting trafficking
anywhere in the country and is staffed
24/7.
If the case should involve the U-M
Human Trafficking Clinic, the people
at the resource center will contact
the clinic at (734) 615-3600 or at
humantrafficking@umich.edu.