Let's Talk Human Rights

By Bailey Johnson '21, Jenny Sobnosky '21 and Tony Talbott

In March, COVID-19 shut down in-person meetings. Our Abolition Ohio team took a breath and let things settle for a few weeks. We canceled our next anti-human trafficking coalition meeting and wondered how we’d be able to support all of the important work that still needed to be done in Southwest Ohio and beyond. After holding our first virtual meeting in May, we realized that something was missing. We had been holding in-person anti-human trafficking meetings nearly every month for 10 years. The best parts of those meetings were the informal discussion and networking, the deep, free-ranging conversations about trafficking and related issues, and the ability to engage with other knowledgeable, like-minded, mission-driven folks committed to preventing human trafficking and protecting victims and survivors. 

We started brainstorming about what we could do. How could we adapt to the “new normal” and turn it to our advantage? We came up with the idea of holding regular, informal, guided dialogue “meet-ups” online, open to our coalition members and the public. We decided to explore different issues connected to human trafficking using small group dialogue and virtual breakout rooms. We wanted a catchy name for the series and came up with “Traffic Talk.”

Our first session was held on June 24. The topic was “Understanding Demand Reduction in Sex and Labor Trafficking.” We chose this topic as a basic, starter topic to kick off the series by focusing on demand reduction as a common, evidence-based approach to reducing trafficking. Next, we determined to respond to current events around racial injustice, we created a three-part series on “Race and Human Trafficking.” In part one, we explored the overall issue, including questioning how racial stereotypes impact victimization and how to use your own privilege and power to be an ally with victims, especially with victims from marginalized groups. For part two, we invited Dr. Denise James, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the UD Women and Gender Studies Program, to help us dive deeper into norms and narratives around race. We used Cyntoia Brown-Long’s memoir, Free Cyntoia, as a starting point to discuss concepts around ideal victims and childhood, race, and sexuality. Part three focused on the relationship between race and labor trafficking. We discussed migrant laborers in California’s almond farms and penal labor in the U.S. prison system. Our fifth session further explored human trafficking and the criminal justice system, particularly focusing on policing and the courts. Our sixth and most recent Traffic Talk “Conscious Consumerism & Human Trafficking”, held on October 28th, encouraged participants to begin thinking about their consumer habits before the Christmas shopping season kicked off. 

Since the start of Traffic Talk in June, over 140 individuals have registered with about 15-20 participants each session. Participants ranged from anti-human trafficking advocates, concerned community members, leaders of key local organizations, and UD students, faculty, and staff from the Greater-Dayton area and beyond. 

We developed a model for Traffic Talk consisting of a set of brief resources (readings, videos, and podcasts), discussion prompts distributed one or two weeks in advance, a set of guidelines for fostering effective, respectful dialogue, an overview presentation of the issue, and a closing reflection exercise. We open each Traffic Talk with introductions and an overview of the topic for the whole group, then break into small groups for moderator-led discussion. The group comes back together at the end to share out and reflect on the discussions and key takeaways.

Planning, coordinating, and hosting this dialogue series did not come without its challenges- as welcome as they were in the spirit of lively community dialogue on issues of the times. These challenges ranged from the technical difficulties inherent in hosting a virtual event to the complexity of fostering constructive dialogue about highly controversial issues. To address these, in part, we invited Traffic Talk participants to provide feedback using Likert scale questions on a scale of one-five (disagree strongly-agree strongly), asking participants to rank variables such as their level of comfortability, their perceived level of meaningfulness during dialogue, and their desire to continue learning about the topics discussed during the event. 

We used the feedback received to improve on the Traffic Talk experience. For instance, we extended the time of Traffic Talk from one hour to one and a half hours so that participants could have enough time to discuss. We sent out resources earlier than a few days ahead of time. In addition, we invited guest speakers so that those with real-life experience or expertise could provide their perspectives on many of the controversial issues being discussed. Since making these changes, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with participants responding with mostly ‘fives’ on the Likert scale questions. 

Here are a few of the positive comments we have received:

“I love these sessions. I am so glad there is such a diversity of participants. I would like to continue these sessions or extend the length of them if possible.”

“Thank you for making this space available. I was definitely uncomfortable during the conversation but I think that is important.”

“This was a great session and my group could have talked longer than the assigned time.” 

After taking a break for the holidays, Traffic Talk will resume in January 2021 on the fourth Wednesday of each month. We have a great slate of upcoming topics to discuss including illicit massage businesses, children’s issues, sex work vs sex trafficking, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Our goal is to continue measuring the impact in order to adapt and improve Traffic Talk. Please join us in 2021 and visit our Traffic Talk webpage to learn more. 

Bailey Johnson is a Graduate Assistant for the Human Rights Center and a student in the MPA program. ‘21

Jennifer Sobnosky is a senior Human Rights Studies major, with minors in Political Science and Pre Law. She also works with Abolition Ohio as an intern at the Human Rights Center. ‘21 

Tony Talbott is the Director of Advocacy at the Human Rights Center and the co-founder of Abolition Ohio, the anti-human trafficking coalition of the Miami Valley.