Peace, be still

"Peace, be still!!" called and echoed through the streets and neighborhood of Vilia Victoria tonight, as I marched along with bout 50 other residents, and friends and family of Alex, a youth shot and killed here on september 3rd. "It is time to bring light into the darkness!" the prayers of a pastor from Lion of Judah church proclaimed. We took the hand of those next to us and said, "i choose light!" and then we walked, carrying candles high.

"Blanko was the nickname of Alex Sierra, 18, a Villa Victoria resident who was shot to death on Saturday, Sept. 3, in front of barber shop El Barbaritos at 652 Tremont St. Police arrested the alleged shooter, Ricardo Arias, 17, on Tuesday, Sept. 6. According to Assistant District Attorney Amy Galatis, Arias and a 16-year-old, who has also been arrested, were seen in the area of the barbershop on Sept. 3, asking passersby if they lived in the Villa Victoria. Sierra was the only one to answer yes, and Arias allegedly fired three shots into him. Galatis said that investigators believe that the incident stemmed from a longstanding rivalry between Mission Hill and Villa Victoria-affiliated gangs."
http://www.mysouthend.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=124625

why?! Why did this happen?! Enough! "peace, be still"
 Alex's sister sobbed as we watched a slideshow some of the youth put together. Two young people got up and sang songs for him.
There was food, and it was beautiful to see the community come together - share life and food together - mourning, yet there was laughter and a sense of carrying on. sticking together. living. little babies, kids, teens, through to the elderly. I was sitting next to two older women from the villia, i think one was his grandmother. They both had a deep saddness - they would often shake their heads and sigh. oh this life, that was so young, was just snatched away!
One of the girls who helped organize the march, passionately told the group "I don't want to be gathering like this, for this reason again, EVER! Its time to make a change!"
Im glad to be in this neighborhood, and i want to connect even more with these kids, and this community. People are seeking for answers, they are scared - I hope i, and others at SENCE and our house here, can love them with Christ's love, and be community together. 

rouge abolitionists

The city is rushing around this lovely fall morning... and im sitting here in starbucks pondering some amazing conversations i had with folks in the abolitionist movement and the fight for justice this week! Its exciting to be part of a team with so many incredible people! its a common bond of wanting to end slavery - its not an official network, or "membership" but rather, a group of friends. many of them don't know each other yet... but im hoping to fix that soon! :)
One of the themes we all were agreeing with yesterday was that we need to be more connected, and that it is about the movement, not any one organization or official title! When we start to loose sight of the bigger picture, we render ourselves ineffective! And, we can actually cause more harm.

One of these friends was told "if you are not a professional in this game, you won't be effective." That is just not true. Yes, we need to be informed and smart, but we don't need to have official titles to our name to dig into the systems, learn and listen and begin to see where the gaps are, and where the systems are broken. It actually can work far better to have someone who is not "officially" part of one particular organization helping to network, because there isn't that inevitable sense of competition over money or resources, or distrust that one group is trying to use another. Sadly, that's what is currently happening in the non-proffit world, and then when you mix law enforcement in, there is just a lot of miscommunication and distrust! Leaders of organizations often begin to lose sight of the larger vision of why their NGO was founded, and get caught up in the goals and objectives and funding to just keep themselves running.
The truth is, with most of these non-profits and social services, if we were actually carrying out our goals in the whole movement, we would be working ourselves out of a job! That should be our end goal, right? That slavery is stamped out, that hardly anyone is homeless anymore, that everyone has access to good food - the goal is that Civil Society and the systems and structures in place will be generating these positive results, and we don't need organizations to "raise awareness and money to "fix these problems" that the systems are creating".
But no one really wants to work themselves out of a job! That's when it gets scary- social services just do what they do, to keep clients coming to them, so they can apply for grants, to get funding, to pay their employees... what about the clients actually moving out of the system and into a healthy place of independence?! What about prevention so people don't even need to become "clients" at all? That would be dumb, they might lose funding! hmm.
So, obviously this world is broken, and there's a very small chance we will fully fix these systems. But perhaps, my point is, that yes, the systems need to be redone, but the bigger vision is- its about PEOPLE = its about building healthy relationships! its about loving people, and loving them to Jesus - to One who IS redeeming and restoring in and through and so far beyond the brokenness! Its about seeing people as beautiful, with dreams and visions of their own and strengths to offer, not just as "Deadweights" sucking up handouts.

So we, here on the ground, dreaming about better options and possibilities - YES! continue to dream, and share ideas, and build relationships with each other. love and support and pray for one another. Love our neighbors, and invest in our communities, and put feet to the ideas we dream about-  even in little ways.

(picture from Clair's fb page. thanks!  :)

If you are working for an organization, be careful not to find your identity in that. Sadly things can happen, people and organization can fail, and you find yourself "on your own"- stand strong! God can use you just as you are. The movement is so much bigger than any one group! You, as a "rouge abolitionist", can change the wold- in community - in just following God's leading one step at a time. You can be amazingly effective as part of an organization as well - just keep the perspective of why we are doing what we do! be open to out-of-the-box thinkers in your networks.

If you find yourself working as a "rouge abolitionist", and you're getting a hard time of it - keep pressing forward! you have the flexibility to think and act "outside the box" - be sure to have a community of friends around you, to keep sharing ideas and resources. And as we plug in our collective crazy dreams in to the systems and networks things will in fact start changing! it already is happening.

Have courage. Stand strong. Dream big.

want to meet up for coffee? Let's talk! I want to hear your thoughts, and get to know you as a person.

(thanks for the conversations this came from, Dave, Viju, Arwyn, PW, Pat, Annery and Erika!) 

interconnectedness of injustice

A map of the interconnectedness of "injustices" we face in our world. Trafficking is just one extreme part - but it is driven by so many other things. The complexity of all of this can be overwhelming, or it can be a reminder that EVERYONE has a part to play in reversing these cycles of poverty - and infusing them with hope and joy and reconciliation! With Love! with Generosity! With good food! with Truth and opportunities for exploring new horizons. 

 

Below is a case the other day - of a "Suspected Brothel" being "shut down" - but it is frustrating to see no mention of services to the women, and referring them to prostitutes. I wouldn't be surprised if there were 13 or 16 year old girls there too. 

We have a long way to go Boston - before we're doing anything systemically effective - actually shutting down the systems that are driving the "success" and growth of trafficking. 

Inspectional Services Department Hearing on 100 Mt. Pleasant Ave, Thursday, Sept. 8, 10 AM, ISD, 1010 Massachusetts Ave., 4th Floor)

Suspected brothel closed

City responds to Roxbury complaints, but no arrests made

September 02, 2011|By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Neighbors in this working-class Roxbury neighborhood suspected that the large beige stucco house on Mount Pleasant Avenue was being used for something other than a two-family home: There was a constant flow of male visitors, and scantily clad women were frequently seen rushing out the front door demanding payment from fleeing men.

Two weeks ago, responding to complaints from residents, authorities visited the house and spoke with the owner, Fard Ahmed, who told them that prostitutes visit the 12-room house, according to an official with the city’s Inspectional Services Department. Ahmed said he rented rooms out to satisfy “supply and demand.’’

“If they know prostitutes are coming in and out of my house, why didn’t they arrest them,’’ Ahmed said yesterday afternoon in a phone interview a day after the house was shut down for code violations. “Listen, I rent out a couple of rooms to various people because there is a market, but prostitution can happen anywhere, it can happen at any hotel in the city.’’

Ahmed, 74, was convicted in 2004 in Roxbury District Court of keeping a house of prostitution and was sentenced to a year in jail. In 2009, he was convicted of keeping a noisy or disorderly house and sentenced to three months in jail, according to law enforcement officials.

The house on Mount Pleasant Avenue was full of indications that it was being used as a brothel, authorities said.

The first floor contains a waiting room, replete with lounging chairs, a coffee table, and stacks of magazines. Two poster boards are affixed to the wall with handwritten “five-hour house rules’’ and “two-hour house rules.’’ The five-hour room-rental rules permit one reentry into the house, but the two-hour rules stipulate that upon exiting, “all remaining time ends.’’ Five hours costs $50 rent, and two hours costs $25.

The rooms are small and sparsely decorated with mattresses, night stands, and a few pictures cut from women’s fashion magazines such as Elle and Cosmopolitan.

Ahmed has not been criminally charged in his latest run-in with authorities, but Inspectional Services shut down the house Wednesday, placing plywood over the doors and windows and citing him for numerous code violations, including exposed wiring and unsafe porches. Ahmed has been ordered to appear before the department Thursday to specify how he intends to use the house - as a two-family dwelling, as it was permitted, or a rooming house.

“Clearly, he was not using it as a two-family,’’ said Darryl Smith, Inspectional Services assistant commissioner, standing in front of the house yesterday.

Well-maintained two-story houses dot the street, as do several red-brick apartment buildings. The St. Patrick Elementary School is also on the street, about a half-block away.

Leanora Whitted, 67, whose living room windows face the front of Ahmed’s property, said she plans to attend the public meeting along with other concerned residents. She said questionable activity at the house has been going on for years and she has repeatedly complained in community meetings.

“It really gets terrible over there, she said, sitting in her living room and pointing toward the windows. “All times at night, you have men honking on their horns, going inside, or parking on the street and talking to women who aren’t wearing much of anything. I have a grandson here, and there are other children on this street.’’

Smith said that often when residents seek a remedy to nuisances on their street, they don’t lodge their complaints with the proper authority. “We started hearing about this particular address weeks ago,’’ he said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino added, “We just got the information recently about it… . I think sometimes the neighbors don’t call us, tell us what’s going on in the neighborhood. Once we found out, our team went out there, our response team, and shut it down immediately.’’

Smith is the chairman of the Mayor’s Neighborhood Response Team, which targets problem residences, abandoned vehicles on the streets, and other quality-of-life issues.

The team focuses on Mattapan and Dorchester and the Blue Hill Avenue corridor, but Smith said that as the team sweeps out prostitution through code enforcement, “there is some migration. We shut them down and they move,’’ he said.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-02/news/30106816_1_house-rules-prostitutes-12-room-house

Trafficking case in Atlanta. thoughts

My Grandma forwarded this along to me, from her Church's group against slavery in TN. Everyone has a part to play in ending slavery! 

notice- the guy is only 18 who is doing this. What's his story i wonder? What sort of broken relationships and failed systems is he coming from? I wonder who his dad was, or if he had one. What happened when he was 3 or 4 years old? sadly the perpetrators are also broken people and yes, they must face the consequences of their actions, but how do we stem the tide of our little boys growing up to buy and sell girls?! how do we interrupt and reverse those broken cycles, and infuse them with LOVE and JUSTICE and reconciliation and beauty?! that's my question. Those are the questions im trying to get to with the Abolitionist Network. How do we create the space where "experts" people on the ground in all this, can step back and look at the bigger picture, and figure out what will really start making a difference?! Because in Atlanta, and in Boston, law enforcement randomly selecting an add or two, and hoping to get at the pimps is not going to cut it. This guy is one of hundreds in the atlanta area. these women are just a few of the thousands of women, girls and boys who are trapped. 

So, lets start asking these questions, and start looking for answers - together! 

Man charged with forcing 4 Atlanta

women to engage in prostitution

Specialized Investigations

Division detectives have jailed a

they're kids, learning about life, and love and searching for identity...

Conyers, Ga., man on charges

that he forced four women to

travel with him to Nashville

from Atlanta to engage in prostitution.

Prontiss Houseworth, 18, is

facing four counts of trafficking

for sexual servitude, one

count of promoting prostitution

and one count of carrying

a prohibited weapon (brass

knuckles).

The investigation of

Houseworth began last Friday

when an undercover officer

responded to an ad posted on

the Backpage.com website.

The officer was told to come

to the Knights Inn on Spring

Street, where a deal was made

with two women to perform sex

Often the girls get arrested. Thankfully in the Houseworth case
they were seen as victims. 

acts for a total price of $200.

When the officer and his

team identified themselves as

law enforcement, the women

reported that they and two others

were forced by Houseworth

to come to Nashville, saying he

threatened to kill them and

their families if they did not do

what he said.

One woman said that

Houseworth struck her for disobeying

him and went so far as

to duct tape her hands and

mouth.

Houseworth was taken into

custody while in a car outside

the motel.

The four women, two 18-year-olds,

one 23-year-old and one 24-

year-old, were deemed to be victims

and were not charged.

The FBI is assisting in the

human trafficking aspect of

this case.

Houseworth is being held in

lieu of $150,000 bond.

- Green Hill News August 31, 2011