Yesterday I attended a committee meeting on human trafficking held at Project Harmony- and although the meeting was well attended (over 70 people in the room), and though the facilitation was top notch- there is still an uphill battle facing those many people willing to put themselves into the mix in order to try and effect a change.

Nebraska Senator Amanda McGill’s bill was amazing- but by the time it was passed it was so watered down that it was hard to feel any kind of victory in it- as it got argued down over and over by the male members of the Nebraska legislation. I would assume- knowing what I do- that people like Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers were instrumental in the process, as he was involved in the “investigation” into Franklin Credit and the many crimes that occurred against children.

It is as I said in the meeting- Nebraska has Franklin Credit Union and all of the child trafficking that took place at the time to contend with- and until we admit our history- very little real change is going to be enacted. What I discovered at this meeting is that I am far from alone wanting some resolution to Nebraska’s past and that many, MANY of it’s citizens remember and are talking about what they experienced at the time all of this was taking place.

I also found it interesting that other than one interested LaVista policeman, there were NO OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT at this meeting- nor city representative, and very few of the other child agencies in town- like The Child Savings Institute. Surely these organizations CARE about child trafficking and the community as a whole, and their absence from this meeting was noticed- at least by myself. It has been my experience that local officials would like nothing more than candy coat the situation in the media and not really spend any time really LOOKING into anything, so their absence just helps to solidify this notion that our local law and political officials are more than disinterested in this topic.

As such- the battle to rectify Nebraska’s contribution to the 36 Billion dollar a year industry of child sex trafficking will continue to remain an uphill battle.