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>>in our first season ofstudio sacramento, leah albright-byrd joined usas part of a discussion to put the neglected horrorof sex trafficking on the local and nationalradar as a priority issue. leah helped lead thefight in california to pass proposition 35, aninitiative putting in place the strongest publicsanctions in the country to combat sex trafficking. she led that fight froma place of authenticity,
having once beentrafficked herself, and escaping thatenvironment in order to bear witness to thecountless thousands trapped in a system of pain,violence, and desperation. leah is the founder andexecutive director of bridget's dream and joins usagain to share her journey form sex traffickingsurvivor to advocate. >>leah, welcome back. >>thank you for having me.
>>what's changed inthe past two years, since we last got together? >>well scott,a lot has changed, things have changednationally, they've changed inour state, my organization, bridget'sdream, has definitely evolved in its capacity to serveand meet the need locally. >>how so? >>well, we've been able toacquire some very strategic
partnerships with otherorganizations in the community and we continue toget more and more referrals for girls and women thathave been exploited which lets us know that there's anincrease in identification of those victims whichis exciting for us, it doesn't necessarily meanthat the problem has grown exponentially but it doesmean that our community is seeing these victims andthen referring them to us, and then lastly,i feel like i've evolved.
i started offreally passionate about the local issue,and have over the last two years become a nationaladvocate around the issue of human traffickingand now soon to be an international advocate. >>yeah, well, there's a... you have a trip coming up,what's that? >>i do, i'm actually leavingfor england tomorrow and i will be there forabout nine days
training england's firstlong-term safe house for human traffickingsurvivors there. >>really? >>yes. >>wow, wow. now is- is-is trafficking in england as significant an issueas it here- is here in theunited states? >>it is not as significantan issue, however, it is another industrializedcountry and
wherever you have children,you have vulnerable children so it's something thatthe united kingdom definitely wants to beresponsive to. >>and, and, and in terms of,of california itself, has, with the passage ofthe proposition, has the- the flow of peoplebeing trafficked diminished or is it the same? >>i think it's too soonfor us to say, i think we've just startedto move in a direction
of data gatheringaround this issue, especially withlaw enforcement, but what i can say isthat we've had an increase in convictionsunder prop. 35 and the law enforcement training forthe state-wide training has been fully developedand is being launched so our law- law enforcementofficers across the state are being educatedaround the issue. >>now, some of us who this istheir first time meeting you,
don't know your story. tell us a little bitabout your journey. >>sure, sure, so i, like mostyouth that are vulnerable to being preyed on by predators,had come from an environment that was marked by traumaand dysfunction, there was a lot of brokenness in myfamily and i- before i ever ran away from home and becamea human trafficking victim, i was a survivor ofdomestic violence, i had grown up in a homewhere there was
substance abuse and so bythe time i was 14 i was searching desperately forlove and acceptance and belonging and completelyoblivious to the fact that there were predators in mycommunity that would prey on my vulnerabilities like somany of the children that i now have the opportunityto work with and so my exploitation lasted from 14to 18, i met a guy that was selling drugs here insacramento and like so many drug traffickers he turnedto the trafficking in human
beings cause he felt like itwas more lucrative and less, less risky for himcriminally and so, my exploitation, like i said,it lasted for four years and it was, you know,definitely one of the worst seasons of my life. >>and, and you have aninteresting insight into why traffickingin humans is, can be more attractivethan the drug trade itself. can you share thatwith us again?
>>sure, so...when you'reselling drugs, you have circumstantialevidence right? you have evidence, if youget pulled over in car and you have substancesin your car, then you're automaticallybeing taken to jail. if you get pulled over inyour vehicle and you have a couple of girls whoare under-age, who you probably havedressed up and made them look like they're older,and you've developed
an allegiance andloyalty with them, either through fear ormanipulation and coercion, they're less likelyto tell on you. and so prosecutors willtell you that traffickers are some of the hardestcriminals to prosecute because of thosevery factors. but now with thepassing of prop. 35 a minor doesn'tnecessarily have to be in the courtroom to testify,
it's just given us a lot moreopportunity to prosecute. >>remind us what are thetools of prop. 35 that have changed the landscape incalifornia. >>absolutely, so with thepassing of proposition 35 it increased the penaltiesagainst human traffickers so that when force, fraud,or coercion is used with a minor,that trafficker is facing fifteen to life in thestate of california. it also mandated lawenforcement training
throughout the state sothat we can make sure that all of our officersare aware of this humantrafficking issue. and there's one facet ofprop. 35 that's unfortunately being held up in thesupreme court and that was the disclosing of all emailand internet accounts by registeredsex offenders, so.... >>oh, this is- thisissue about the phones, if it's on your phone,there's a dispute as to
whether it's protected bya privacy claim, right? >>no, that- that's alittle bit different, it's more so thesupreme court. the initial argument wasthat it was a violation of their first amendment rightsand they basically have to disclose so much aboutthemselves, so we- we- i personally don'tunderstand what the big deal is about emailand internet accounts, especially when we havesuch a huge issue
with internet exploitationand children, so.... >>the, let's go back tothe night that the proposition passed. >>sure, mmhmm. >>one, what was that like? what was that momentlike for you? >>so it was- it was- it wasa bunch of things scott, i mean for one, you know,we were watching it alongside the presidentialelection, so waiting to see
whether or not obama wasbeing re-elected and then waiting to seewhat- how we would do, and the to see that webroke state record with 81.3 percent ofvoter support. >>really?i didn't know that... >>yeah, that was a highestrate of voter support, highest- highest amountof voter support in the history of thestate of california. so to see californiansbe so invested
in protecting childrenand invested in addressing the humantrafficking issue for me as a survivorwas just overwhelming, and i remember looking at the founder ofcalifornia against slavery, the organization thatstarted this whole campaign and she and i literallywere laughing and crying at the same time,so it was one of those, you know, joy filledmoments that...
>>validating? >>yeah, yeah. and you-you look back on the tapestry of your-your life, you know, i look back and i go, "wow,look at all of the things that i've experienced toget to this moment." and i've officially,through my involvement and though the support ofall of the californians and the people that investedtheir time and their- their- their money into that,into that campaign,
we've left a legacy forchildren in our state, you know, and thatwas a powerful moment. >>connect that to yourfriend bridget and bridget's dream. >>sure. >>how- when- when youwere in that moment, did she ever comeinto your mind? >>absolutely, so one of thecampaign tools that was used was a picture of her andtwo other young ladies
who'd been trafficked. and to realize that herpicture and her story had been spread acrossthe state in a way that i know i could havenever, it was- it was the people who werepromoting this campaign. but you know, i don't knowthat the pain of losing bridget will evergo away completely, but in those momentswhen you see that such amazing things arehappening as a result of-
of her story, and as a resultof me having the opportunity to share that story,it's just profound. >>was there even anamazing thing or moment that happened duringthe campaign, when you knew that you hadturned the corner and yes, this is gonna happen? >>hmm... yeah, there werequite a few. i- i think- i think honestly my first press conferencewith prop. 35
>>yes, because i saw the congresswomanjackie speier there, and chris kelly,who's one of my heroes, part- he's one of theowners with the kings now. go kings![laughter] and, you know, but being inthe presence of people who are really, really invested,and seeing the momentum, i just had this momentwhere i thought, "we're gonna do this, we'rereally going to do this."
especially because therewere so many other things happening across thecountry that were really pushing us as a statein that direction, so... >>and how- how has this, thepassage of this proposition and the fight that you'releading, how has that resonated in other partsof the country? >>well, i mean california'sincredibly- an incredibly powerful and influentialstate, and i think people- there were states that werewaiting for us to catch up.
>>yes. so the polarisproject's an international- excuse me,national organization, and so they basically doreport cards for states and california hadreceived an 'f' compared to some of theother states that were implementing thingslike safe harbor laws. and so now, we've beenable to catch up. i mean, you'd think that wewould have been at the forefront and we weren't,and so i think the
rest of the country'svery excited about that, especially because wehouse three of the nation's top highesttrafficking cities. >>when we last got together,one of the things that you spoke about was the needfor officer training, which is a part of theproposition, but it had to do with essentially deconstructingnot only behavior, and giving people newbehaviors- officers,
but also taking down someof their assumptions that led them to effectivelyvalue the trafficked less than other victims thatthey might see. how- how do you think thatwith the passage- how will we know if the passage ofprop. 35 is working? >>right, well one of the-one of the ways that we'll know that it's working isthe number of prosecutions. so before we were getting,unfortunately, traffickers with slapson the wrist,
especially when it cameto minors. i mean that was the biggestfocus of prop. 35. i think to speak to theother point that you mentioned with law enforcement, whatwe're really looking at, not just with lawenforcement but with our state and our country,is a cultural shift in perspective aroundthis issue. >>to where we stop saying, "oh, just thoseprostitutes," right?
to, "wait a minute,these are children. the average age of entryis twelve to fourteen, that's a junior high orhigh school student." and so i'm excited to beable to share that i actually am one of thesubject matter experts on the state-wide lawenforcement training and helped to developthat training. and a big part of thateducation piece is helping themunderstand victimology.
so when you have avictim that doesn't present like a victim,then naturally you're not going to feel inclined toprotecting this person, if they're aggressiveand abrasive. but once you understand thebackstory and you understand how they're being groomed,how they've been recruited and manipulated to respondthe way that they are, then it starts to shiftyour perspective... >>"groomed," what-what's that?
>>well, unfortunately whena- a trafficker targets a victim, he beginsto manipulate her and- and it's not very difficultwhen you have a child whose brainisn't fully developed. so you have atwelve year old, you can tell atwelve year old anything, and that power dynamicwith you as an adult, this trafficker as anadult exploiting this child, that child is continuing tolearn and to develop,
and embracing those beliefsthat that person is trying to get him orher to believe. so it's- it's very hard-hardwired, right? i mean just like,i'm sure you can think of things thatyour parents told you that you can hear themsaying in your head. >>never leaves[laughter] >>right. so then when you're twelveyears old and the streets
are raising you, in essence,and you have someone who's very unhealthy and, attimes, psychopathic, because they don't have-they're not showing empathy or compassiontowards their victims, you start to really believewhat you're being told. >>you also mentionedthat there was an ethnic dimension to this problem,and that disproportionately women of color andafrican american women in california have beeninvolved in trafficking,
and- and i'm wondering,does- how- how goes the effort toengage those communities in being betteridentifiers and supporters of getting victims outof that life? >>right. well that'sone of the things that bridget's dream isactually focused on. we just did a, for example,a presentation with san joaquin delta collegelast week with their african american historystudents wanting to
influence the nextgeneration of leaders and helping them understandthe disproportionate impact in low-incomecommunities and in communities withwomen of color. and so we continue toeducate our community as much as we can, and a-probably about 85 percent of the girls that we're workingwith identify as either being african american or ofafrican american descent, which is alarming for us.
and so we've been discussingwith some professors and other professionals, africanamerican professionals, therapists that areinterested in this, to begin to talkabout how can we raise awareness on abroader scale so that our communities of colorare being educated and they're awareof their vulnerabilities. >>is- is there recep- isthere receptivity to receiving this typeof training?
>>absolutely, i think- see,the unique thing about, and i can only speak forthe- the black community 'cause that's the communitythat i represent, right- we still have thiskind of, those are just those fast little girls,kinda old school... >>...thought process aroundit, which parallels a lot with our perspectiveof mental health, and whether or notwe feel like it's taboo to getcounseling support.
so there's a lot of... >>you're soft ifyou do that. >>right, right. and there's a lot ofrelationship building that has to take place. i think the beautifulthing is that i, as an african american personcan go into my community and pull some coat-tails,so to speak. you know, i can bring upthings that- that might...
>>make people come correct,right? >>right, right, right-that might be uncomfortable for other people to mention. and we can have some open, honest conversationsabout this, and as we do, i've seen people go,"yeah, i have..." you'd be- you'd be amazed,i don't know amazed, either amazed or-or shocked or horrified, at how many people withincommunities of color
have been impacted byhuman trafficking. >>wow. >>not just because ourancestors were human traffickingsurvivors, right? but because it continues totouch our communities in ways that i think we haven'teven begun to address. >>wow, wow... so you- you've beenon this journey, an all of these thingshave happened, and you've
impacted events and lives-how have they impacted you? >>hmm... that's a greatquestion, scott. so... i thought thati was going to be able to inoculate myself better. >>from? >>from- from- fromrelationships with the girls that we serve. and let me clarify, that'snot to say that i don't want to have intimaterelationships with them,
but you have to have goodboundaries when you're working in themental health field, right? and so- and that's forthe sake of self-care. but i realized that someof that inoculation is tied to myfear of loss, right? so when bridgetwas murdered, and i felt in many wayspersonally responsible because i recruited herwhen i was fifteen, there was something thathappened in my heart
where i wanted to fight,and at the same time it produced an overwhelmingamount of fear. and so, with the love that-and the resiliency that i see in the girlsthat we work with, there's no way not tolove these girls, there's no way not to getclose and attached to them. and we do life together, youknow, they- they come to events and we do- we- wecan't keep some of the... >>we do life.
>>we do life together,mmhmm. and that's- that's theonly solution to any- any brokenness, really. whether it's human traffickingor substance abuse, is relationship,and so we- we get to live our livestogether, and grow together. so i know i've definitelygrown, i've been forced to- to look at areas wherei still need to heal, as a result of thework that i do,
and it's just all goodin the end, so... >>i'm curious, this- thismovement that you're part of the birthing has grown, andbefore it came into itself and the propositionpassed, it was a group of very committed,dedicated individuals. and now it's gotorganizations and structures and,you know, all of the accoutrements of beinginstitutionalized. and the cynic in mewonders though,
whether or not the-when something grows into- from a movement into acottage industry... >>mmhmm. >>...whether or notexploitation happens again under another name. >>mmhmm, mmhmm. and that-that's- that's a great- that's a great pointyou bring up, and i think before i'm-before i address that, i have to say, you know,i have been a part of this
movement but there are peoplethat have gone before me, that are made what'shappening now possible. and that's people likedr. lois lee, the founder ofchildren of the night, an organization that's beenaround since the '70s. that's rachel lloyd, thefounder of gems in new york, an organization that's beenaround since the '90s, and nola brantley. and, i mean, there's so manypeople that i can look to,
and a lot of them aresurvivors that have pioneered and put theirlives on display for the world to see, so that wecan experience the change that we're now experiencing. and so i just get to bea part of that, right, but to speakto your point, what i've seen is a lotof re-exploitation, unfortunately, becausethere's such a push for survivor involvement, whichi'm- i'm very happy about,
and at the same time, ifgirls and women and- and men that've been exploited arenot being educated on how to share their stories withoutre-traumatizing themselves, because that's verypossible, and they're not being educated on how tointeract with the media, right, then nextthing you know, you- you face a newform of slavery, kind of, like in the wordson w.e.b. du bois, right? where instead of beingexploited sexually,
now your story's beingexploited for the sake of the developmentof an organization. and so with bridget's dream, i'm really sensitive tothat as the leader. we've had a lot ofsurvivors get involved and want to serve,and the question is always, "do you understand what theramifications are of you sacrificing this partof yourself and sharing it?" because, i know for myself,my- the most intimate
parts of my life arenow public display. >>right? and so youreally have to be at a place whereyou're emotionally and psychologicallyprepared for that, and i don't think thati was initially. so we- we want to keepthat from happening, but unfortunately,like you mentioned, it does happen, so... >>so... what's the next biggoal for the movement itself?
>>that's a great question, i'm excited thatyou asked that. so there are two bills on-on the books right now that actually justpassed appropriations. and one is a senate billthat will mandate sexual abuse and sexualtrauma education, and all of the junior highand high schools in the state of california,which is really, really exciting, that's ahuge preventative effort
that i believe our communitywill benefit from for years to come as long aswe're able to get it passed. the other... >>is there opposition to it? >>there's not oppositionbut, you know, i mean you never knowwhat can happen. >>the legislature is like forest gump's boxof chocolates. [in unison] you never knowwhat you're gonna get.
>>[laughing] that's right.so- so, the other bill that i'm really excited aboutis a demand bill to address the demand side,and so we can continue to provide victim servicesand we can continue to prosecute traffickers, butif we're not preventing and educating our community,and if we're not addressing the demand, which is a basiceconomic principal, demand and supply, right?supply and demand. and so that demand bill willincrease the penalties
against sex-buyers, andit will require them to experience a mandatoryconfinement, and fines, and potentially education,wherever a first offenders program is availablein the state. >>and- and i don't know,i'm not in law enforcement, i don't know if this is true, but one of the thingsthat i had heard was, that prior to the passageof this proposition, the consequences wereactually more severe
for a dui than it was forbeing a sex-buyer. >>absolutely, unfortunately-well, not- not prop. 35, prop. 35 focused primarilyon traffickers. this new senate bill that's-that's just been, like i said, just passedappropriations, that will changethat dynamic. so we had an incidentrecently where a young lady wasreferred to us, and her story actuallymade the news locally,
where the- the sex-buyerthat was arrested during that sting received aslap on the wrist and a ticket,and was on his way. we cannot continue- continueto allow that to happen to people who are buyingchildren in our community. >>now, with your advocacy,not only here in california, but nationally and nowgoing internationally, and the fact that your lifehas been exposed in service of this movement completely,you put it all out there,
and you're in the forefrontof trying to protect and- the victims and-and get them safe, do you ever worry aboutyour own safety? because you're so visible-you're so visible, and for those for whom this is theirbusiness, you're do- you're disrupting theirincome and their livelihood. >>i have had moments wherei've thought about it, probably not as much aspeople would think, primarily because ofwhere in my faith lies
around this situation. and then the other part isi have some very strong connections with lawenforcement and a lot of support with the fbi, andwe do take safety measures around my involvementin certain things. for example, we had anincident where a trafficker got ahold of my phone numberand called about 25 times trying to locate the girlthat we helped rescue- we helped her escape,excuse me,
i don't even like theword rescue, but we helped her escapefrom that situation. and he called repeatedly andthen eventually i was able to tell him, you know,we have fbi affiliations, we know your name,he stopped calling. but i'm very well awarethat it could be worse, but it's just not something that i spend a lot oftime focused on. >>okay. in our final moments,tell us what's next
for leah albright-byrd. >>where is she in thefuture? >>right, thanksfor asking that. so, my big focus goingforward is writing a book. and one of the thingsthat i've realized as i've travelled and spokenat different places, and spoken to a wide varietyof audiences and age ranges, is that the common theme ishealing for people. i've had people that havenot been through the same
thing that i've experiencedreach out to me and say, "hey, how did- how were youable to forgive? how were you able to heal? what treatment workedwell for you?" and i wanna be able to sharethat part of my life with people thathaven't necessarily experienced the same thing, and give them hope sothat they know that it's possible to growand move forward.
>>well, maybe thatbecomes the next visit, where it is that you can-you can share that- that piece of work whenit's complete. >>alright.well thank you, leah. and good luck andsafe travels. >>thank you, thank you. >>alright, andthat's our show. thanks to our guests,and thanks to you for watching studio sacramento.
i'm scott syphax,see you next time, right here on kvie. >>at five star bank,community is at the heart of what we do. every day we strive tohave thoughtful solutions is vitally important tothat prosperity. >>all episodes ofstudio sacramento, along with otherkvie programs, are availableto watch online at
kvie.org/video â
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