MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It is estimated there are between 20 and 40 million people who currently live in modern slavery.
According to dosomething.org, human trafficking is a $150 billion a year business.
FOX13’s Winnie Wright was with hundreds of Memphis women to learn to protect themselves and their families.
How do you protect yourself from being a victim?
That was one of the many questions answered at Saturday’s ‘My Power is Mine to Keep’ forum.
“I think a good kick to the groin is an awesome self-defense technique,” said Crystal McMahan, Endurance Krav Maga Self Defense Instructor. “But I think it starts with your self-awareness and presenting yourself that way.”
One of the lessons the nearly 200 women at the event learned was what body language says to a perpetrator.
“So many women, or people in general, are constantly on their phone looking down, not paying attention to what is going on around them,” McMahan said. “Just putting out the idea that you know what’s going on, it makes you a little less likely to become a victim.”
Memphis sits on the ‘I-40 pipeline’ of illegal industries and is a major hub for human trafficking.
That’s why The Links Incorporated felt it was important to inform both young women and their parents about the warning signs.
“It is about raising awareness, it is about equipping you to know when a predator approaches what you should do,” said Tish Towns, President Memphis Chapter—The Links Incorporated.
“You are not powerless. You are confident. You have resources. You have law enforcement.”
Tanya Hart brought her 14-year-old daughter, Addison, to the event so they could both learn the signs.
With kids constantly on their phones, Hart said, parents must be extra diligent.
“I’m always talking to my daughter about the signs and things of that sort,” Tanya Hart said. “We are really careful with her online, for signs and things like that.”
“We try to monitor that, to help her monitor those signs, to be confident when she sees those things, and to be able to talk to me more than anything.”
“It could be like anyone you know too in your own life, so it’s really weird,” said Addison Hart.
For more information about human trafficking or the self-defense classes taught, visit Restore Corps and Endurance’s websites.