I went to a meeting of the minds in Lincoln, Nebraska yesterday and discovered that the issues of human trafficking and dealing with those issues are in it’s infancy, and that there are issues with some of the leaders- even here.

First of all- people who buy sex haven’t been called “Johns” for years, and as I listened to one of the leaders take about how they needed to be called “buyers”, I realized that most people who are dealing with this are incredibly naive, and don’t understand what it is like to directly deal with the “perps”. Here was one of the leaders- whose distaste for me was almost palatable, and yet I AM one of the victims they are “trying to save”, but instead of showing any real interest- she made comments under her breath as if I was some sort of leper.

The “other side” has been organized for quite some time now. It was asked who “they” were- but everyone was so afraid to talk and yet we were all sitting in the chambers of Ernie Chambers, one of the senators involved in making everything here in Omaha disappear. The reason why we have the problems that we do is because key officials, law enforcement, politicians, and our rich are INVESTED in this money maker and there is little that can be done to stop them. “They” ARE organized- and don’t sit around arguing semantics like those who would like to do some good. This is LARGE SCALE, and is the whole reason why we have the epidemic proportions of human trafficking and the sex trade as we do.

It is my impression that there are two types of activists in all of this. One are those of us who are on the front lines, who are basically overwhelmed already with what we are trying to do. Senator Amanda McGill and her staff are part of this- although- being in politics- her hands are tied in detailing the REAL reasons this all has stalled. LB255 was a good start- but it was a watered down version of the original bill- and it was due to the filibustering that took place on the floor that made it what it finally became.

The other part of this are, what I call, a bunch of prima donas with all of this. So self satisfied that it makes one gasp, they are determined to be THE ONE who knows all and breaks this up. However, it is obvious that these people, who have closed themselves off to anyone who doesn’t dote on them, have NO IDEA the reality of what is going on within the borders of the US. Considering that I am a victim- if they come across they way they do to others like they did to me- there is no way that anyone of any consistency is going to discuss anything real with them. There will not be ONE that uncovers all of this, but rather- must be a collective effort on the part of those of us who have EXPERIENCED what we are fighting, and not those who just have an academic understanding of the situation. Polls can be taken until people are blue in the face- but all the while children are being abducted, sold, and raped in the process- and the people who would fight against it= at least in Nebraska, are no further to changing the situation than they were thirty years ago. This is incredibly sad and disheartening.

A year or so back- I tried to throw a conference on Human Trafficking at Unity Church of Omaha but was thwarted by my stepmother Joanne C. Shurter who worked with the lesbian minister of the church. They were all convinced that I had my own agenda- in bringing out the truth of what happened in Omaha- but the truth was that I had discovered that NO ONE in town is working with anyone else and everyone is just doing their own thing- without anyone realizing what everyone else is doing. It was my hopes that this could be changed- as I wanted to bring forth the collection of people here in town and see if I could get them talking. This did not happen- and as a result- the same old status quo is in effect and preventing anyone from making an EFFECTIVE change on this deplorable business. Maybe the attitudes of having to be THE ONE is what is causing it- as I have recently found that people will go to great lengths to try and profit off of all of this- but whatever the reason is- it MUST CHANGE for any of us to fight all of this. The “other side” is concentrated, organized, and profiting HUGELY- while “our side” is arguing vocabulary. It is just sad.