Over the weekend, thousands of people from Houston and surrounding areas were forced to find emergency shelter as a result of Hurricane Harvey. As the flooding continues, poor communities of color are hit the hardest. Disaster historian Jacob Remes summed it up:

“We will hear claims about how disasters don’t discriminate by race or class. This is a lie. Because disasters are social, they do. Disasters replicate and worsen the social cleavages and inequalities that preexisted them.” 

Undocumented and mixed status families may have been particularly hesitant to evacuate because Customs and Border Patrol kept immigration checkpoints open until state highways started to close. Our thoughts are with the residents of Houston and surrounding areas that continue to be flooded by Hurricane Harvey. Please see the links below for ways to help.

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Episode 5: “Building a Race and Gender Conscious
Anti-Trafficking Movement”

In our final episode, our panelists share concrete ways to address racism and misogyny in our response to child sex trafficking.

Our panelists, from left to right: Holly Joshi, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, the Honorable Stacy Boulware Eurie, Malika Saada Saar, and Minh Dang.

Bios at www.westcoastcc.org/whoisforsale.

Child Sex Trafficking
Who is for sale and at what cost?

Podcast Series

On November 29th, 2016, WestCoast Children’s Clinic hosted a panel to discuss how racism and misogyny drive child sex trafficking in the United States. As women and their allies across the country voice opposition to policies that explicitly endanger women and girls, the need to address the impact of the child sex trade on girls of color is greater than ever. We created this podcast from a recording of the evening. Please listen to this important conversation with five national experts in the anti-trafficking movement.

Download the podcasts and see more information from the event atwww.westcoastcc.org/whoisforsale. The podcasts can also be found on the iTunes store.

Last Tuesday we hosted a panel, Child Sex Trafficking: Who is for sale and at what cost? at the Oakland Impact Hub. We were privileged to hear from a phenomenal group of women who spoke powerfully about the ways racism and misogyny drive child sex trafficking in the United States. Thank you, Judge Stacy Boulware Eurie, Minh Dang, Holly Joshi, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, and Malika Saada Saar.

Stacey Katz said, “The sexual exploitation of kids happens because we let it happen — conversely then, we can stop it. But meaningful social change—a true culture shift—takes more than what any one of us can do. It takes a critical mass including you, who are a part of our WestCoast community.”

We are grateful to the more than 250 people– survivors, community members, advocates, and providers who joined us last week.

Toward our goal of raising awareness and inspiring action, click here to hear the opening remarks, and have a conversation you wouldn’t otherwise have had. Please consider making a donation to support our continued work and direct services.

Much gratitude from all of us at WestCoast Children’s Clinic.

Visit www.westcoastcc.org/whoisforsale for resources, including articles written by panelists.

WestCoast is Never Elsewhere’s Community Partner for the month of October! 10% of all proceeds will be donated to WestCoast in support of our work. Plus, use the promo code WCCC for 20% off through the end of the month!

Here more about our story at Never Elsewhere’s website.

Dear WestCoast Community,

We are proud to announce that yesterday, Governor Brown signed SB 1322 (Mitchell), which precludes commercially sexually exploited children from being arrested and charged with prostitution. By doing so, California affirms that there is no such thing as a child prostitute.

This would not have been possible without your calls, letters, tweets, and amazing advocacy. Your support made a huge difference, and we can’t thank you enough!

We would also like to thank Senator Holly J. Mitchell, survivor advocates, and our coalition partners for undertaking this important work with us. WestCoast worked closely with National Center for Youth Law, California Welfare Directors’ Association, the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, Children Now, and Children’s Law Center of California to meet with legislative staff and testify at hearings. Many other organizations submitted letters of support, made calls, and participated in the social media campaign.

Thank you,

Jodie Langs
Policy & Communications Director

Dear WestCoast Community:

Time is running out for the Governor to sign bills passed by the Legislature. Please act now and urge Governor Brown to sign SB 1322 (Mitchell) into law! SB 1322 precludes victims of commercial sexual exploitation, a form of child abuse, from being arrested and charged with prostitution.

TWEET:

We’ve received the message loud and clear: your tweets have a huge impact! Please continue to tweet at the Governor and ask your followers to retweet. Here are some sample messages:

• .@JerryBrownGov sign #SB1322 & send the message that child trafficking victims aren’t criminals #NoSuchThing @NCYL_CSEC @westcoastccorg
• .@JerryBrownGov sign #SB1322! CA allocated +$19 mil to child welfare for #CSEC infrastructure & svcs #NoSuchThing @NCYL_CSEC @westcoastccorg
• Children who are victims of sex #trafficking need #SB1322 to start healing. Stop criminalization #NoSuchThing @HollyJMitchell @JerryBrownGov

SEND A LETTER: 

Adapt this template letter and email to leg.unit@gov.ca.gov ASAP. Don’t forget to cc: elaferriere@youthlaw.org & jlangs@westcoastcc.org.

Please forward this action alert to your network: Click here to forward this email.

Thank you for your continued advocacy.

Sincerely,

Jodie Langs
WestCoast Children’s Clinic
@westcoastccorg

Elizabeth Laferriere
National Center for Youth Law
@ncyl_CSEC

Learn more about our partner Rights4Girls‘ #NoSuchThing campaign through this video.