Portland’s unfortunate dark side

There are many people, myself included, who can’t see themselves living anywhere but Portland. It’s city that encourages free will, unabashed expression and is a true marriage of modern and nostalgic sentiments.

Unfortunately, every city has its dark side, and Portland’s worst blemish casts a long and sickening shadow. Portland, sadly, is one of America’s hotspots for human trafficking. To know that a city I thought was fairly “clean” and “safe” (compared to places such as Detroit and Las Vegas) harboring such evil is disheartening, to say the least.

I know that this blight is being well covered by local news outlets and fought diligently by local police forces and volunteers. But, whenever I personally broach the fact that human trafficking is so pervasive in Portland, I usually get a very surprised and disturbed response – much like mine, when I was enlightened on this issue not too long ago. I’m sure plenty of you are in the dark on this. So, I will use whatever pedestal I might have to further educate my fellow Oregonians on this sickening epidemic.

Most people have a fictionalized idea of what trafficking entails. In Portland, at least, there is no underground layer of high-class men in white smoking jackets, viewing a selection of foreign beauties through a glass wall. Also, there is an important distinction between prostitutes and sex trafficking victims. Straight-up prostitutes sell their bodies out of choice, while the trafficking victims are forced onto the strip after being captured and/or coerced. And, in truth, many of the girls/women who claim they are on their own are really lying, and in constant fear of their pimp.

The ways in which modern traffickers or pimps ensnare their victims are far more subtle and diabolical than simply bagging and tagging them. They survey shopping malls, schools and social media sites looking for needy or vulnerable young girls. They try to befriend these girls by supplying them with clothes and attention that mask their darker intentions. Most girls will end up in debt to these smooth operators. One such victim, “Katie,” described in an ABC-TV interview how she was told she had to do a few dances at a strip club to pay back her pimp, but those “few dances” turned into years of prostitution.

The girls get roped in with the nice presents and attention, only to find their new job involves getting physically and emotionally crushed during intercourse with some disgusting “john.” What’s worse is that the girls who get pulled in this way might be considered the “lucky ones.” In a KPTV (Channel 12) news interview, Jeri Williams said she was gang-raped by ten (ten!) assailants at a young age, captured and forced into working rigorous hours on Portland’s notorious 82nd Avenue strip.

It gets even more messed up. Some of the girls who get shafted for their “services” see the financial possibilities of the pimp business and become a pimp themselves. In another ABC-TV interview, Michelle Alsten admitted to becoming a pimp at age 14, and started getting her friends into the not-so-glamorous life.

This evil industry might, in part, be linked to Portland’s dubious distinction as having more strip clubs per capita than any other U.S. city (as reported by the Willamette Week newspaper and Time magazine). While this and other facets of adult entertainment may not be the root cause, experts and law officers say the clubs are often a conduit for girls getting involved in this unsavory life. Many clubs have featured underage girls, drawing frequent police crackdowns.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oregon showed that 469 children in Portland had been exploited as commercial sex workers in 2009-2013. And that’s only the girls who came clean, or were located. Many girls being trafficked can be as young as 12 years old. The younger they are, the longer they could last (as sex “workers”) and the more they are valued.

Half of the reported cases were tied to gang activity. The reason these girls have become so popular with gangs is how much money can be made from them, how little they cost and how much they can be used. One young girl can make up to $600 a night, and most don’t get a dime of that money. The victims can be used for years; many are left in hotel rooms for days without food and water, authorities have found

There are plenty of ways to fight this outrage. One of the easiest and best means to help stamp out human trafficking is by spreading awareness. Tell everyone you know, especially parents with young girls. There are online resources and training that can help to identify girls who are being trafficked, and you can report findings to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. You can also find and donate to local human trafficking opposition groups. Keeping victims safe and sheltered is not cheap.

I love Portland, in my extremely biased opinion one of the greatest cities in the world.

I understand every city has its issues, but this is something that must be stopped, or at the least, seriously diminished.