A Long Journey to Justice

What if your body was not your own?
The idea of sex slavery conjures up gritty movie scenes filmed in exotic and faraway places like India, Indonesia or Thailand, but not here.  Not in the United States.  No way.  Not ever.  Especially not in the Grand Canyon state.
Alarming statistics paint a different picture of beautiful Arizona.  It proves we are not immune from sex trafficking.
“Upwards of 300,000 United States minors are being trafficked within our nation’s borders,” businesswoman and philanthropist Cindy Hensley McCain explains.  This is not typical discussion for polite society.    Yet, here is McCain sitting ram rod straight, elegantly composed and compassionately broaching a frighteningly uncomfortable topic.
For decades, we’ve come to know McCain as her husband’s fiercest supporter and a leader in the political process.  But what most of us don’t know is her vigilant fight to raise the awareness of sex trafficking not only on a global level but in our own community.
McCain has received push back for her continuous efforts to focus on this particular crime.  With all eyes on Arizona during this season of major sports events, it is hard to ignore the fact that our high profile bowl games and golf tournaments will attract even more trafficking.
“The Super Bowl is not the only event where this happens, but it is one of them and I intend to bring light to the issue,” McCain’s bright blue eyes fire up as she acknowledges the concern is more grand in scope.
So why is she doing this?
Her  very personal devotion to combating this crime stems from the fact that she holds herself personally responsible.  Her witness to the inhumane cruelties of sex trafficking in refugee camps and around the world fuel her personal desire to put a stop to it.  McCain has brought this mission home.
Yet, the story starts on the other side of the planet.  Nearly two decades ago, she found herself on a humanitarian mission, visiting a sari shop in Calcutta.  Caught up in the stunning colors and patterns of the rich fabric that swirled around her, McCain suddenly heard a bizarre clattering beneath the floorboards.
“I could see through the rough slats frightened eyes looking up at me. A lot of them,” McCain recalls with horror and shame.
It was a moment of sheer desperation and McCain describes it as her most humiliating experience. “I walked out and I didn’t do anything,” she admits.
To underscore her experience she repeats slowly and precisely, “I walked out and I didn’t do anything.”
It is obvious that this is a scene that she has replayed countless times in her head.
Those young lives became the inspiration for McCain to act.  So how does Arizona deal with the unpopular topic?
First, it is about changing the mindset of people in the United States and erasing the stigma that it does not happen at home.   It is about rescuing the victims and placing them in a safe environment, where they can be treated, educated and given proper medical attention.
As for our community, McCain strives to educate and acknowledge that this problem is real.  Sex trafficking happens all around us, at shopping malls, bus stops and even in our children’s school. It happens everywhere.
Part of McCain’s work includes getting law enforcement properly trained to respond to the victims and offer information. The project utilizes an internet technology that was Co-Founded by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore called Thorn. The technology is used to help identify and fight sexual exploitation. Arizona is the beta test for a system that has global applications.
But technology is not just a factor of the solution, it is also big part of the problem with many “transactions” of sex trafficking managed online.
“My goal is to make Arizona a fly over state so when people think about sex trafficking.  I want perpetrators to think it is too tough to operate here.  I think that we are about to do that,” McCain says confidently.
Looking back on that day standing in the tiny sari shop corner looking down at those eyes peering up at her, McCain’s wishes that the ending had a different one. A hopeful one.  She wishes that she had done something so that she could have a peace about the lives she left behind.
Instead, she has taken her largess, influence and will to talk about the issue.  Cindy McCain has given voice to those without one.  She has taken a silenced topic and made it loudly known that we all must be vigilant and concerned about sex trafficking.  And, it starts at home.
So, for those young helpless kids without a voice of their own, be theirs. Be the one who is heard when theirs is silenced.