 And welcome to Finding Respect in the Chaos. I am Cynthia Lee Sinclair and I am here with Jade and Jasmine Baker. I'm so glad that you guys have come to share all of the stuff that you do. You do such amazing work and I'm really honored that you came on the show to share some of it with us. I believe, Jasmine, that you have a program called Gems. Could you tell us a little bit about what that is? It's a program for girls and STEM, right? Yes. So Gems is Girls in Powered and Mentored for Success. It's a STEM-based organization for girls. It's faith-based, of course. I'm an engineer and I'm very passionate about making sure that girls have STEM-based in their careers, you know, at least that they get involved in it because, as you know, Cynthia right now, only 10 percent of the girls are very interested in STEM. Now STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math, right? Exactly. Just for those that don't know exactly what STEM is, I had to look it up. Okay. Exactly. So right now, the girls that are in school, only 10 percent of them are interested in STEM-based subjects. So I felt compelled to have something created, my nonprofit, to get them interested in those types of subjects. That's fascinating. I love that. Thank you. I'm glad you do that because it's important that we get more women out there in these fields. Exactly. So that we can really change what is going on in this culture and stuff. Okay. Now, Jade, I want you to tell me a little bit about what you are doing because what you're doing is really exciting. It's with human trafficking, right? Yes, it is. Can you explain a little bit about what that is and what it entails and how you got involved in it to begin with? So I work with an organization called Ho'olanapua and there it dedicates the renewal of youth being exploited to our islands. And as their first ever state teen educational advocate, I just go into the school systems and educate our Kiki about what's going on as it directly affects them. So I originally got started with Ho'olanapua with the annual progala that was held in 2014 in my freshman year. And I went with my mom. We went into the art exhibit where it conveyed a young girl that had been sex trafficked and everything that she'd have to go through. So it was visually there. You could see the clothes, the lipstick, the shoes that she had to wear. And I was really shocked because I didn't know that it was going on in our islands. Right. Right here? Yeah. I thought it was like taken. And I just automatically assumed that she was protective over me. And I was like, ah, mom. But. Good job, mom. Good job, mom. That's what mom is supposed to do. Exactly. But after I found out that this could happen to anyone that I may know at Radford, I decided that I wanted to take a stand and be a voice to the voice list. Good for you. Yeah. I love that. You know, I just recently went around the world and I was interviewing people and I was studying how different cultures deal with domestic violence and child abuse. But when I got out there, every single agency that I went to was just slammed, overwhelmed with human trafficking issues. I bet. And so I still, but I thought it was Europe. I thought it was maybe India or, you know, the Middle East. I don't think of it as being here in Hawaii. Right. And yet it's really high. There's like a 30 percent risk factor or 30 percent. Oh, you remember the exact statistics. Like with the teens. Tell them a little bit about the teens, Jade. Runaways. So 33 percent of Hawaii's Runaways get approached within the first 28 hours of them being on the streets for sexual coercion. So this presents a really big issue for Hawaii for sex trafficking. Sure. In the first, that soon, in the first day, they're already being. 48 hours, my bad. 48, yeah. But in the first two days, what's the difference? I mean, first two days and they're already getting approached for sexual favors. And not only that, one big thing, I mean, my daughter conversed about this a lot is, and most people don't know this, that Hawaii was the last state to pass the sexual trafficking law. Wow, really? And that's a big thing. It passed in 2016, and most people don't know that. So that's very important for us to know. Sure it is. Yeah. Why don't we the last ones? Wait, usually we're up in the forefront of this tiny stuff, you know? But I think people don't really want to see it as being such a big problem. Exactly. But it really is. So let's talk a little bit more specifically about what human trafficking is for those of the viewers out there that don't know exactly what it is. Could you explain a little bit more about the specifics for us? Definitely. So if we could go to the first slide. So sex trafficking occurs when a person is induced to perform a commercial sex act through forced fraud or coercion. And what the act specifically is geared towards, it's geared towards people under 18. So if anyone under 18 can prove that they were forced into sexual exploitation or just forced fraud or coercion in general, they are able to go through court with it and not be charged as a prostitute. Right, because they're a minor. Exactly. They should charge the people that are doing it to them. Exactly. Not by victims. Exactly. Wait a minute. Especially the underage ones. Exactly. It's seen to think that would happen. Because the thing about it is a minor is not giving consent. A minor is not wanting to prostitute themselves. They can't give consent. Exactly. By law they cannot give consent. Exactly. Even if they say yes, there's not a minor prostitute. Right. There's no such thing as a child prostitute. Exactly. I like that. That's a good thing to remember. That's a good thing to remember. The message that we send. So people know that. Right. There's no such thing. Wow. You used to volunteer in the prison, I think, right? Absolutely. And that's where my passion came from, Cynthia, is when I was out in the prisons teaching and volunteering, I would run across girls as we would take them through counseling sessions that had ended up in prison. Through those sessions you'd learn that, hey, they had been trafficked or they had some type of experience in that area and they got charged with some type of prostitution. And you're like, okay, wait a minute, and at that time, remember, I said 216 was when the law. Oh, right. So the law wasn't even there to back them up yet. Right. So now they're getting charged with prostitution and you're like, whoa. I sat there kind of took them back and I said, hey, after seeing so many cases, I said, you know what? I got to do something about it. Good for you. Kind of like my daughter. She goes to this progala. She steps into the life of a girl that's been trafficked and she wants to do something about it. There's an awakening that happens. For me, you know, I'm counseling and I'm like, hey, I got to do something about this. I got to make a change here and help these girls. Right. Good for you. We need everyone to be doing that. Exactly. That's why I'm so glad you guys came on the show today because we really need to get the word out. Absolutely. So that people understand that this is a problem right here in Hawaii. It's not just something that is far away from us. It's something right here. Right. You walk down in Waikiki and let me tell you, you will see plenty of girls and you can tell what they're doing. Exactly. And they're obviously underage. You know, they don't want to be out there. There's so many homeless now too that puts them, and I would think that puts them super high risk. At risk, definitely. They don't do anything for money, especially children. They don't know where they're going to go. They don't know what they're going to eat. So in order to fulfill those needs, they do anything. Right. And they're easy prey for someone who comes along and says, hey, man, look, I'm going to feed you. Absolutely. And give you a place to roof over your head. Oh yeah. And when I was going around the world, I was able to interview a nun at the Vatican and talking about what they're doing about human trafficking. And I really loved the way that they are just boots on the ground, getting out there with people, telling them not to fall prey, because that's really all we can do. It's so hard to extract them once they get in it. But if you can stop them from going to begin with, I think that's like where we can really start to make some changes. And that's all about awareness. Oh, definitely. And getting the word out. So I'm so proud of you. It's amazing that at your young age, you are already in the process of doing this. So, hey, let's talk a little bit about the specifics of what makes up somebody that is a trafficker. Not necessarily trafficked, but somebody who is a trafficker, so that maybe the people that are watching will know what to watch for, right? So the grooming tactics is good. I knew there was a name for it, I just couldn't come up with it. So I think we have a side for that, too, don't we? So you want to say this? Oh, absolutely. Some of the recruitment and grooming tactics, you know, the changes in behavior that you can look for is absences from school, you know, the dress could change. Maybe the person showed up at school and they were very conservative in their dress and now the dressing is more provocative, or even an attitude change. Maybe now they were really nice and now they're becoming very nasty in their attitude. Maybe they're starting to have truancies from school and it's just unexplained. Maybe they're showing up with more money in their pockets. Maybe they have a second cell phone. Maybe that second cell phone is not because they can afford it, but maybe the trafficker has given them a second cell phone to contact them. Maybe they have more tattoos, and what we like to think of when they have these tattoos, it could be a possible branding technique that the trafficker is using. Maybe they've now branded the victim, you know, to keep up with that victim. And that makes total sense, because, you know, under 18, they can't get a tattoo anyway. Exactly. Without external, you know, as permission. So they're obviously getting them illegally. And I think you're probably right, it is like a brand. Exactly. And it kind of ties into the modern day slavery, as we would like to call them. As you look at slavery before, the slave owners would actually brand the slaves and kind of brand them with iron and metal. Now it's just tattoos. Same thing, but different time periods. What you call it, yeah, exactly. Wow. And I think you're probably right as far as that branding thing. That makes total sense too, because that way that person knows what that tattoo means. Exactly. So it's this constant reminder. Oh, absolutely. The back of their head that's there, which is probably why you see all kinds of, you know, slides and attitude and everything else, because they're not happy. They know that they're not. Maybe in the beginning, there's a little bit of, you know, it's like, it's new. You get new money. You get to go buy new clothes. All that kind of stuff. Hair done, different things. Right, so in the beginning, you're like, yeah, this is cool. And then you realize it's not so cool. And then you realize that you're stuck. Yeah, you feel like a piece of property. Right. And that's why they call it the grooming technique. In the beginning, you know, it's that you hear two terms use the loverboard technique or you hear my daughter say the Romeo technique. And then as it begins to move and we call it seasoning, you know, now as we season her and then maybe he becomes more of the gorilla technique, he's now starting to beat her because he needs to create these trauma bonds. Because now I need you to know that your property, you belong to me. Right. And that second cell phone is that now I begin to manipulate you and control you so you know that you belong to me. You stay here. You no longer can go home and I'll hurt your family if you do. And that's, I think, a big thing that happens, too, is those threats of if you don't do what I say, I'm going to go and I mean, and that's like classic abuser modality is if you don't do what I say or if you tell anybody what's going on, I'm going to hurt your mom or I'm going to hurt your brother or I'm going to go get your sister and get her involved or something like that. Blackmail, you know. And it's used to isolate the victim. The trafficker wants the victim to feel isolated from their parents because they often feel shame. Shame is a really powerful tool to use in order to get that mind control over. Exactly. And that's a classic abuser across the board technique. Yes. Not just the traffickers. As a survivor of child abuse, my father used those same techniques. As a victim of domestic violence, I should say survivor because I'm not a victim anymore, but as a survivor of domestic violence, my ex-husband would do the same thing, would shame me. And so it made me feel like I wasn't worth anything. And I think that's the first thing that they have to do is break down the other person's self-worth before they're able to build it back up the other way. Exactly. I think we have a slide about the groomers and stuff too, don't we? Oh, no, these are just quick facts. Oh my gosh, those are some crazy facts. Oh, yeah. 100,000 children exploited in prostitution every year. And that's just an estimate. So who knows how many it really is? I'm sure it's more. They say like every couple of minutes a child is being pulled into the sex trafficking ring. And if you notice, it's 12 to 14 in age where the children are being exploited. And that's kind of that vulnerable age where a child is looking for acceptance, where the mind is still being developed. So the trafficker can easily deceive you, manipulate you because a child is looking for acceptance at that age. Most of our children are looking for acceptance. Absolutely, they are. That's like the critical stage right there, critical stage right there. And then that's where the trafficker is coming in and they're manipulating that child. They're finding them on the internet through social media. And I believe we kind of talked about this before we even came on the show. They're manipulating them on social media. They're looking for that child that's saying, hey, I'm not getting along with my mom. I'm not getting along with my dad. And they're posing at someone else and saying, hey, I'm not getting along with my mom. I'm not getting along with my dad too. And I'm really a 14-year-old girl also. But in reality, I'm not a 14-year-old girl. Yeah, you're a 40-year-old man. Wow, listen, we have so much more to talk about. So we've got to take a break. And I'm hoping that you guys will stay with us and be with us when we come right back. We'll just be gone for a minute. Thanks. And Aloha. My name is Calvin Griffin, the host of Hawaii Uniform. And every Friday at 11 o'clock here on Think Tech Hawaii, we bring in the latest in what's happening within the military community. And we also invite all of your response to things that's happening here. For those of you who haven't seen the program before, again, we invite your participation. We're here to give information, not disinformation. And we always enjoy response from the public. But join us here, Hawaii Uniform, Fridays, 11 a.m. here on Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha. Aloha. I am Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Cold Green for Think Tech Hawaii. I appear every other Monday at 3. And I have really, really exciting guests on the exciting topic of energy efficiency. Hope to see you there. Hello. Welcome back to Finding Respect in the Chaos. I'm Cynthia Lee Sinclair. And I'm here with Jade and Jasmine Baker. And we are talking about some really important stuff that Hawaii needs to know about. We've got a little video we want to show you. We're talking about human trafficking. And this video is going to give you a little insight into just exactly what's going on with human trafficking here in Hawaii. We're working with what we have. And I was like, what do we have? And she's like, your body. I didn't know about sex trafficking until I was in the middle of it. After a while, you just kind of get used to it. Like, everything that goes around just doesn't seem out of ordinary to you. We really believed that she was getting ready to be sold. Brianna comes from a small town, was an ace student, did everything you hoped your daughter would do. My dreams were to become a nurse. While I was in high school, I had found a waitressing job. I love school. I love being around my friends. And my science class was like my big thing. These traffickers or pimps, they pretend to be an older boyfriend. And these young girls actually fall in love with these guys and believe that this guy loves them back. He was like 24. He played football at a university. He had bought me some designer jeans and things. Go to like movies and malls, trips, stuff like that. He bought me a dress and some jewelry because I didn't really have stuff like that. It's important for the Pimp or the trafficker to separate these girls from their family and their friends. He really gave me the courage to kind of stand up to my mom. He was like, you know, just kind of keep it on the down low. One day he asks for something and even though she doesn't want to do it, she's so worried about losing him that she will. And once he's had her do it once, he pretty much can control her from then on. He kept saying that he needed money. I was like, you know, I'll help you or whatever. I made a choice that night, but I found out that they actually had chosen me. Oh, now that's a video that'll wake you up, right? Oh my goodness. That's impressive stuff. So you know what I was thinking while we were watching that is that it's not just girls. It's guys that are victims too, right? Boys are victimized also. Absolutely. And it's not just men that are the traffickers. It's women too, right? Absolutely. 46% are women. 46%. 46%. Wow. I wouldn't think it was that high. Oh yes. Definitely. Most people think it's just men and that's the myth that we like to distill so that people know that it's 46% women and they're more trusting than men. Right? Sure. The women number is so huge is that it's a lot of the women that were sex trafficked. That's what I was wondering. I was wondering if they were victims to begin with and then they just got put in that position to go get more victims as opposed to just being one themselves. Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine that. The guilt, talk about shame compounded with guilt. Oh yes. Oh my, I can't even imagine ever coming back out of that. You think that they would leave but they don't because once that shame gets in, like you were saying. Yeah, it's still in them. It's hard to come out of. Yeah. It's not that easy. Yeah. It completely changes everything that you know and then the shame of you wouldn't want anyone to know that this had happened or that you were walking the streets, walking hotel streets at night or something. And then the money in it too. That's the other piece Cynthia. There's money. Right. You know, anywhere there's money and power, you know, people tend to migrate toward it. Sure. Next to guns and drugs, this is what, a billion dollar industry. Thirty-two billion dollars. Thirty-two billion dollars for sex trafficking? Yes. Wow. Next to guns and drugs. And we like to use this analogy whenever we're discussing this in schools. Look at a gun. You can purchase a gun once and throw it away after. Look at drugs. You can use it once, throw it away after. But look at a human being. You can purchase them over and over and over again and profit off of that being multiple times. We need to get respect back in this world, right? Absolutely. You know, when I came up with the title for this show, it wasn't randomly done. You know, I'm really looking for respect. We've got to find respect out there on this chaos because there's just so much chaos. Yes. And I'm afraid that our political climate, unfortunately, right now is not doing anything to help stop it. Victimizing women, it seems to be the part and parcel of what's going on in Washington right now. And it's wild because you see some of them have to step down and they lose their jobs. And then we got one that gets to be president and another one that gets to be on the highest court in our land. So women's rights are under attack in many, many ways. And we need to join together and work really hard to fight against this stuff. We need to get out and vote. Yes. Get out and vote on Tuesday. Yes. That's a big thing, right? Yes. That's part of it. We can vote some of this out. I know I work the polls every year. I'm working this year, too. Are you? Yes. With my legacy club at Radford. Oh, very cool. Very cool. I think everyone should at least experience it once, where you go out and you volunteer in the polls. And you really get a feel for the whole process of it, you know? And I think that's an important thing, especially for somebody young like you. I think that's awesome. It's like, you know, after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, did I get their name of the right school? Marjorie Stoneman Douglas or the one in Florida where they had the big shooting just not too long ago. And all the kids came out, right? And they're still. Florida is huge. I mean, these kids are going everywhere. Vote, vote, vote. If you're 18, boy, you are signed up and you are voting on Tuesday, which I think is really important. Absolutely. Here in Hawaii, we have one of the lowest turnouts for votes. The 2016 election, there was almost nobody. We sat there all day and it's a really, it's a big polling spot where I am out in Haula. That's a really big spot where we have a lot of people that live out there and not a lot of polls. So there's a lot of people come there. Right. It's almost nobody. It was just crazy. There wasn't any lines or wasn't it? And I thought, wow. You know, and in this democratic state, I mean, it's like, we really need to get our voices out there because right now, unfortunately, the Republicans are really making changes that are going to hurt us long term. And I think it's important for everyone to stand up and use their voice in whatever way. And I don't mean to just come against Republicans because, you know, I don't want division. I want us all to come together and I want to go back to the way it was when we could all have differences of opinion, but we could all sit down and talk about it. And now it seems like the shift has come to we have differences of opinions and we can't speak to each other anymore. And that's one of the things that, you know, puts a silence blocker on every subject, including this one. Oh, yes. Right? So it's like, yeah, we don't, we don't want that. We want everyone's voice to be heard. Absolutely. And I think that's such an important thing. I think we have another slide we can show, right? About exactly who the traffickers are and exactly what they do. Let us know about that. So the previous video that you saw was called Chosen and it's by the shared hope international movement and it, their focus is geared towards human trafficking on the international scale. So not just the U.S., which is perfect for me in my opinion, but Chosen is a perfect example of the Romeo technique, which is what my mom said before. And the Romeo technique is basically where the trafficker is presenting themselves as a love interest. And it's a perfect technique for especially children my age that are looking for acceptance, love, and they just want to feel happy. And special. Yes. Right. They want to feel important. Absolutely. Yes, exactly. And they want to be heard. So I imagine that Romeo at first is very, you know, listens and complements and tells them what they want to hear. And buying and showering them with gifts. In the beginning. Exactly. But if it's too good to be true, then it's probably not true. It's probably not true. That is, that's probably one of the best things you could say. You know, we don't have much time left. So do you guys have, do you have one last thing that you'd like to tell our viewers today? Definitely. So if you would go to the next slide, it's the national emergency number. So up on the top you have the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That's presented right there. The National Human Trafficking Hotline. And just 9-1-1, if you feel that you're in a tough position, just, you can never fail with 9-1-1. Right. Absolutely. 9-1-1 is go straight to 9-1-1 and have a policeman show up. And now they've got laws that will help support these kids. Yes. And that's the important thing. I want to thank you guys so much for, first off, just what you're doing is we need more people like you. Thank you. And hopefully you're going to go out there and multiply. They'll just call you guys and get about 25 of you out there. I would like to offer whatever I can do to help if there's anything you guys need. And I want you to come back to, I want you to come back and I want you to keep us posted about what you're doing, how it's going, where you're going from there, all that kind of stuff like that. So I just want to thank you so much, Jade, Jasmine. I look forward to having you guys back again. And I want to thank everybody else for coming in and joining us here today. I'm Cynthia Lee Sinclair. This is Finding Respect in the Chaos on Think Tecawaii and I hope you'll join me again for my next show.