The STOPLight

Running away can be fatal

I first heard those words several months ago. And here in our rural community, we have learned all too well that these words are true.

Recently, we buried one of our own, a fourteen-year-old girl from our town and our congregation, who was murdered in the big city. Her death was vicious, senseless, and terrifying. It stretched our minds and broke our hearts. The trial and conviction of the first of the three men responsible for her death has provided some small sense of relief, but the pain continues to linger for many, especially for her family and her circle of teenage friends.

Her murder has opened my eyes to the hard facts of life on the streets for teenagers who run away to the big city. They are lured into a world of sex, drugs, and guns in which human life is held terribly cheap.

Within 24 hours of arriving in the city, a runaway teenager will be confronted by a pimp. At first, everything is wonderful -- food, friends, fun, a roof over your head. But then comes pay-back time. These kids are forced to put themselves up for sale on the streets. A modern form of slavery is put into motion -- the pimp as the master, the teenager as the slave. Before long, these kids are too scared, too ashamed, and too dependent to try to get out.

To make things even worse, these kids are often taken from the big city to even bigger cities across the country -- to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and elsewhere. This only makes it that much harder for these kids to escape prostitution.

Who are these kids? They are our kids.

Many of them, both boys and girls, come from small towns and rural areas. They run away to the city thinking they will find freedom, be able to set their own rules, but instead they are enslaved. They think that they will be anonymous, but they are identified within 24 hours by pimps and other exploiters. They think life will be better, but instead it becomes worse than they could ever have imagined. This is not just a problem in big cities. This is our problem. These are our kids. These boys and girls are from our towns, our congregations.

In a study of a number of teenage prostitutes who work the streets of a big city, it was found that among these kids, some came from big cities, others from small towns; some came from rich homes, some from poor; they were white, black, brown. In most respects, they were a diverse group. But there was one thing almost all of them had in common: 80 to 85% of them had been sexually abused before running away. This is not to say that every kid who is sexually abused will become a prostitute. But we can say that sexual abuse will make it more likely that a child will turn to prostitution as a way to survive on the streets.

What can we do to free these kids who live in the grip of this terrible oppression? I can think of four things:

First, educate yourself. Learn all you can. And then teach the kids in your church, your schools and your community. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance can be fatal. Kids -- especially kids from small towns and rural areas -- need to know what awaits them if they should ever think about running away to the big city.

Second, reach out to kids who are being, or have been, abused. They are especially vulnerable. Sexual abuse is destructive, both in the short-term and in the long-term, and it must be stopped whenever and wherever it occurs.

Third, support organizations like S.T.O.P. There are powerful people with vested interests who want to maintain the status quo. Millions upon millions of dollars are made at the expense of these kids who are forced to work on the streets in prostitution. There are people who are willing to sacrifice human dignity and personhood on the altar of their own lust and greed. These people must be challenged by the power of truth and love and justice.

And finally, pray. Pray for these kids. Pray for those who pimp them. Pray for those who buy them. Pray for those who profit at these kids' expense. Pray for those who could put a stop to prostitution, at least in some small way, but who turn a blind eye to the whole situation.

And pray for those who are working to free these kids from the slavery they are in. Pray for courage, for wisdom, for compassion, and for the eyes to see these kids, and those who abuse them, as Christ does.

By Bruce K., pastor in a small rural community

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.