WEBVTT - Courtney's House [bonus] 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.800 You're listening to the Freeway Fanom, a production of iHeartRadio, 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:08.080 Tenderfoot TV, and Black bar Mitzvah. The views and opinions 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.640 expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:15.200 author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.919 represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black bar Mitzvah, or 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:24.160 their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.720 not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.760 Here's the reality of missing youth in a sad reality, 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.400 the reason why you all don't see it. So if 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.680 you're listening to this right now, I want you to 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:49.519 go on DC's website, police website and look for missing kids. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:51.879 And I'm missing children that come up. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:55.720 I'm going to tell you right now, ninety percent of 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:01.120 the boys and girls I'm in my program. The hard 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.680 thing is we can't tell you who because these are 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:05.000 still open cases. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:06.679 So it's hard when it's trafficking. 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:16.440 The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl cases. 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.360 This child was laying on the side of the road. 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.039 I wouldn't go no way, I would call up my house. 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:27.039 Those first five murders should have been a huge warning 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:28.000 bell for the police. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.120 We just want to know what happened. 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.880 This person must have saw that. They were thinking that 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.360 maybe it's just one person, and he says, uh, they 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:35.840 need to know. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:37.160 This is me. 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.039 I thought that they would catch him. 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:42.200 I thought it was just a matter of time. 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:51.880 I'm Celeste Headley, and this is Freeway Phantom. Over the 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.080 course of this season, we've covered the murders of eight 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.680 young black girls that occurred in Washington, DC between nineteen 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.800 seventy one and nineteen seventy two. Six were confirmed victims 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:06.000 of the Freeway Phantom and two were unconfirmed. In talking 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.760 about each of these cases, we've uncovered bigger systemic issues 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.600 at play, like racial bias in the media and police response. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.320 But while talking to Henderson Long of DC's Missing Voice, 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.320 we became aware of another issue that's sadly too prevalent today, 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:26.320 human trafficking. Today, many of the reports of missing children 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.040 can be attributed to child sex trafficking. 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.359 Whenever you talk about missing people, you better address trafficking 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.000 because it's always going to come up. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.280 In twenty twenty two, twenty five thousand children were reported 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.760 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as runaways. 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.160 The Center reports that one in six of those kids 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.000 were likely victims of child sex trafficking. 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.959 Anytime a young person is missing, they can fall victim 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.920 of sex trafficking, they can fall victim to physical abuse. 0:02:58.160 --> 0:02:59.959 This is important, whether. 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.680 They ran away on their own or whether they were abducted. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:05.520 It's so important. 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.640 And I don't want to minimize structures in the family. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.320 And voluntary when the person leave voluntarily, don't mean he 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:16.080 left voluntary. It's coercion going on from the pimp. And 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:17.000 Tina's going to get. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:17.440 Into all of this. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.400 Henderson told us about Courtney's House, a DC based organization 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:28.120 that works with survivors of childhood sexual exploitation. The organization 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.240 receives dozens of referrals every year. For this bonus episode, 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:36.160 we sat down with its founder, a domestic sex trafficking survivor, 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.240 to discuss the issues currently facing other survivors and the 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:45.000 work that her nonprofit does to advocate for and support them. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.600 My name is Tina Front, executive director and founder of 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.840 Courtney's House, is based in Washington, DC. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:53.680 The mission isn't. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:58.480 To rescue right, is to get survivors a place of 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.480 community and encouragement to help them get it out the 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.400 life and that they learned the tools so they. 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.400 Won't re enter the life. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.840 It's not about saving people. What the hell that's got job. 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.880 I can't save you, but I can help you and 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:17.600 lead you. 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.599 To the water and encourage you to drink it. 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.120 That's what I can do without judging. 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.560 As a trafficking survivor herself, Tina decided to devote her 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:32.360 life to helping others escape exploitation. She joined advocacy groups 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.200 fighting to support other survivors, but it wasn't easy, and 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:41.000 her own journey out of trafficking wasn't quite over. After 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:45.760 years working in anti trafficking nonprofits, she considered going back 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.760 into what she calls the life. 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:53.960 I actually was in a very bad place, couldn't make 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.080 no money, correctly lost jobs. 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.200 It was crazy doing all this stuff. Want to see 0:04:58.240 --> 0:04:59.120 in the Heroes of. 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.080 Water that still I'm doing good because I wasn't supposed 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.919 to be there. So I went out on the track. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.960 This is like two thousand and seven, So I went 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.320 out on the track of track. It's like where you go, 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.640 right if you want to sell yourself. I'll never call 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:16.480 it the sex one because I never thought it was. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:17.680 So. 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:22.760 With that being said, it's Chicago. It's one of real winner. 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:28.760 It is literally five degrees outside, you know, it's people out. 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.440 But what I was paying attention to was I'm just 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.120 gonna walk around and see if any pimps out here. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.200 It's a pemp track, and it was the car start 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:37.719 following me. 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:38.599 It was a pimp. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.200 So I'm like, shit, I can't go home because he 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.400 following me. So I'm like, I'm about to cut through 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.000 the alley. I hear this sound and I'm about to 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.560 run because I think that it's a wreck. It's I'm 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.240 about the hall. But then I'm like, that's not a wreck. 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:57.160 So it was this girl, it was. 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.479 Like fifteen, hiding behind the dumpster. And then I realized 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.560 like that Pip was also looking for her. So I 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.560 was like, hey, I'm about to help you. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:10.120 So I did. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.080 And at that time, like I really couldn't find anything 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.960 in Chicago, you know that really worked in trafficking or 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:18.760 really did what they said for. 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.680 A place for her to go to. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.479 But I was able to talk to Foster Care and 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.839 like find this placement and then I realized I'm supposed 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:29.160 to go back to DC. 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.839 Teni's calling was clear helping survivors like herself get back 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.960 on their feet, but she still struggled to find her 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.680 place within the system. Her previous experience is working for 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:47.480 domestic trafficking advocacy groups left her feeling burned out and exploited. 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:50.560 I didn't want to start my own organization. 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.640 And when I say that, that's because I was at 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.480 another organization and being a survivor is actually pretty hard 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:02.400 in this movement. Being at this organization, it was difficult. 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.880 I worked ninety hours a week, took care of my mother, 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:11.200 and also had two small children at that time. And 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.520 when I left that place, I was drained. I was 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.480 mentally drained. So I was feeling pretty down. And as 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.360 a survivor, I felt you sing that, I felt like 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.480 I had another pimphany. It was an organization as a 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.000 black woman, I felt like this movement wasn't created for 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:26.360 me as a survivor. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.280 I felt that, and that's crazy because it was off. 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.240 Of my teas of what happened to me that it 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:33.240 was created off of. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.520 But I was feeling pretty down. So my mom at the. 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.440 Time was like, look, you gotta start your organization, Like 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:40.960 I want you to start my your organization. 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.200 She's very religious and I. 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.120 Said, uh uh no, that's not no girl, that's not 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:48.080 the science. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.760 Two weeks after that, I get a call from the 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.920 foundation that used to find the organization I was with 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:56.840 from the housing so they funded this. So they do 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:58.960 iran it and it came to me and said we 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.080 have a grant coming out you should apply for it. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.400 Got the grant was one hundred and twenty thousand ain hand, 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.800 no staff. So I said, well, why don't you do 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.360 with team to know how to do street over reach. 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.080 So we started with street over reaches like I started 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.960 for other people. Said I'll start that getting people. I'll 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.400 get volunteers and I'll train them correctly and we're gonna 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.280 do real ass street outreach, right like on the pimp 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.600 control tracks on the ground with were pemps at so 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.760 I did. So we did things different. I switched up 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.680 the items we gave out every six months. So first 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:37.640 it was like chapsticks. 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:42.800 Mirrors getting into the neighborhoods themselves, showing up in these communities. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.920 Her willingness to meet people where they were helped establish 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:51.240 Tina and her volunteers as friendly and supportive faces in 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:51.960 the communities. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.920 What made me feel good at night. Like what really 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.080 made me feel good was that you would see people, 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.040 they would pull them out and move on past and 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.120 smile and they would say things because you have to 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.200 bring a message that's you for them. This is not 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.040 you get in one situation and then you out. We 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.240 had a youth I first met her at thirteen when 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.160 they started doing raids. She didn't come to me until 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.920 she was fifteen, but I used to see her at 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.679 the raids. And what happened was most of Barby firls 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.719 come word of mouth. And I'm so honored by that 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.840 because it's other youth in the program to tell their friends. 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.360 And so that's what actually happened with her. She knewed 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.400 so many people that were receiving our services, she decided 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:36.400 to trust us. 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.280 After months of hard work securing funding, five oh one 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.200 C three status and establishing community relationships, it was time 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.600 to find a home base. Tina settled on a house 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.800 in the Congress Heights neighborhood of DC. This would become 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.840 Courtney's House, which opened in two thousand and eight. 0:09:56.120 --> 0:10:00.400 My youngest daughter's name is Courtney and my oldest daughter's 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.400 name is Shaney. For the housing was going to be 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.200 Shay and Courtney's House, but I didn't name it. My 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.920 mom left that in her will the name, and she 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:14.720 left me a small amount of money to star Courtney's House. 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.240 Courtney's House works with youth survivors of trafficking. They come 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:22.880 to the program through referrals and many of them have 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.400 been on the Missing Children registry. Tina and everyone who 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.719 staffs Courtney's House had built a robust community in the 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.120 DC area, connecting with many of these missing kids who 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.040 might otherwise be forgotten by the system. 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.320 So if youth are missing, there's two parts of that story. 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.480 If they're currently missing right now, foster care, others parents, 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:44.760 they still refer them to me. 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.760 I still look for you from mine. There are sites. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.920 But more importantly, most of our kids, Norman and people 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.920 who are in the life you all, we all know 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.840 that it's the same people. So that's my first start. 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.480 And because I have a relationship with them, we can 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.360 work with the police and help in that sort. Is 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.079 because I usually have more information than the police do, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:09.880 So that's one. And I know a lot of different 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.280 places where people put people, so. 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.839 That's one too. Henderson Long and I've been thinking a 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.040 ways where we can say things. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:23.280 So behind the scenes I do email Henderson long and 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.440 say who's in our program or not and if we 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:29.400 need their help, but publicly he cannot give that information. 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:35.240 Henderson and Tina agree that when legal terms like trafficking 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:39.320 are turned into buzzwords through media firestorms, the risk of 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:44.440 misinformation that comes with the heightened detention is high. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.080 The way I kind of break down a few words 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:52.280 so that we can understand modern day trafficking, trafficking. These 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.320 are buzzwords we've all heard. So the reason why they 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.960 came up with trafficking that confuses everybody. Think of the 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.280 other things that are connected to trafficking, right, drug, trafficking, 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.000 oregan trafficking, Guys, it's a government word. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:07.040 Government doesn't make. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:08.240 Up new words for things. 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:08.959 They don't. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:10.440 They added to one. 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.480 So then it confused all of you because it's created 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.200 by the government and lawyers, not by people. So what 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.880 that meant is the charge of trafficking. So that can 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.160 mean you walker to came here today to interview me 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:26.040 and I and. 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:27.319 That's what I told you. 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.640 But I locked the doors, took everything, and I forced 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.720 you either to clean the drop in center, force you 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.280 to have sex with somebody against your will. You're over 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:39.680 the asia eighteen just barely, so then I have to 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:44.600 prove any trickery, any fraud. So trickery, how did I 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:45.720 trick you to come here? 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:48.400 Fraud? I lied about something. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:50.959 And then you're over the age of eighteen, so I 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.000 have to prove that you didn't choose it. 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.040 If you are twelve or under. 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.800 The age of eighteen, then you don't have to prove 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.960 any force of fraud. So that's what trafficking is. 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:05.200 Now. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.800 The next thing that confuses people is a pimp and 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:12.040 a trafficker. The reality is a pimp and the traffic 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.400 is the same. Pimp is a trafficking charge. They don't 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:16.920 get a pimp charge, they get. 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:18.240 A trafficking charge. 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.840 That's the confusion, right because we try to separate it 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:23.600 because the TV glamorizes pimps. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.679 Oh they're just fun. They had a pimp slab. 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:27.280 They fun. 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:28.120 It's so fun. 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:51.720 But it's not, Tina says. The business of sex trafficking 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.959 is much more complicated than most people realize. It can 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.480 take shape in various forms, influenced by gender, ethnicity, and 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.240 a number of other social and cultural factors. 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.719 I want to break down real quickly so you all 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:09.040 can understand the four forms of domestic sex trafficking. Right, 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.200 there's pen control, most people just talk about that. There 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:18.360 is family control. Since the pandemic, forty two percent of 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:23.600 our youth family control. The next thing gain control, which 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.600 you see a lot here of our Latina population, so 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.320 you'll see MS thirteen in eighteen street Los Locos, so 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.360 that'd be the most popular. And then of course the boys. 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.600 And the reason why the categorize that way is. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.080 Because different you go do different things. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.400 Right, you're not traffic the same. So it's very difficult 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.760 with the boys because what boy wants to say they 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:54.120 were sex traffic sexually abused without unfortunately the African American 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:55.920 community thinking their game. 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.480 And I'm just it's that's the saddest piece to me. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.560 Tina points out that it's not just a misunderstanding of 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.720 the terminology hurting the movement, but also a misunderstanding of 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:12.480 how to combat trafficking as well. Throughout this season, we 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:16.200 talked about how the twenty seventeen hashtag Missing DC Girls 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.920 went viral. What began as a way to raise awareness 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.880 of several cases involving missic black and brown teenagers quickly 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.720 led to complications for the DC's police Department and organizations 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:28.840 like Courtney's House. 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:30.960 But they got everything wrong. 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.320 One it was just girls and not all the boys 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.280 that were online missing as well, who were also in 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:36.880 my program. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.440 I'm like, wait, it's a whole section on the boys. 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.920 They didn't understand the trafficking and didn't even reach out 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.000 to people to help them understand. They just like hash 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.640 egg and not. We were furious, our kids was furious 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.000 coming to the center, like not understanding trafficking also made 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.840 the kids angry and having trauma. They were literally telling me, 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:58.960 like they always do, Miss Tin, you need to call 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.240 them I love them because they think I have more 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.440 power than I have. And they're like, you need to 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.040 call them a tellone because it's misinformation. 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:06.880 It's not true. 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.480 You heard the cause when you leave out a whole gender, 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:13.800 So the real the kids are missing, like right now, 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.720 that is a quick that lasted for a few. 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:19.080 Months, child a couple of months and. 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.720 Then that's it and no one cares and the list 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.760 has grown more than it was and. 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.760 That's what it did. It hurt. And again with the boys, 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.400 it's more boys missing right now than girls. 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.040 But we're not talking about that hashtag nothing. 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.640 And this begs the question, if more young boys are 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.080 missing than young girls, why aren't they receiving at least 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:42.480 an equal amount of attention. 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:45.960 They don't want to believe the trafficking good boys. That's 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.800 why I think it is. I really think is they 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.280 don't like I have to convince people, which doesn't make sense, 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.320 and the way I say it just to make them 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.000 think always is this. Why do we think we know 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.600 that boys are abused just like girls, So why would 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.440 we think, oh, I'll just abuse them but not profit also. 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.600 Done like say it out loud. It don't make sense right. 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.199 But the problem is the boys are the perfect you 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:14.439 know why they look down The girls will the boys won't. 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.439 Tina says racial disparities are another hurdle in the movement 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:22.920 to help traffic teens. These disparities are present in the 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:27.000 legal system, in policing, and even in institutions meant to 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.679 provide support the nonprofit organizations. She says, Courtney's House is 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.879 fighting against that and trying to set a better example. 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:36.879 I'm part of whole court. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.639 Hope Court in DC is a specialized court for sex trafficking, 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:42.960 so I'm part of that. I don't believe in a 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.320 court system that you should go into a court system. 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:48.520 I'm on it so they can get the right services. 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:50.359 At the same time, Courtney's House is trying to shut 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.880 it down. Why because it's all youth of color, And yes, 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:56.400 Caucasian kids are traffic here. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:57.640 They come to me a different way. 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.280 They come to me byby firls do through therapists you are, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.040 and they're at private, very well known private schools in 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.000 the area. But because I trained therapists, it always comes 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.440 that way. The police returned them home to give them 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.240 a therapist, and then they come to me. It's not 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.159 that way for you, fo A. People of color are 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.119 black and brown. Yeah like that if you look right now. 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.760 Most of the organizations are Caucasians that work on trafficking, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.760 that have houses, and most of them are faith based. 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:29.560 Most of them when you go on. 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.320 Their website, will also tell you and no shape because 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.480 God led me to this. But God led me to 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.720 this to be sure I had skills. But they say 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.040 I just prayed on it all that and God gave 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.800 me a house. I've never seen it because they call 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.680 me all the time. I've never started a housing the 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.560 day of my life. I don't know what to do, 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:54.239 but God put in my heart to do this, and 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.080 I say, in that right, I said, well, God, I've 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:57.320 also probably told you. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:01.080 Contact people and contract people that know what they're doing, so. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.159 They don't partner with me. They want to steal my 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.600 information for free. They always tell me how they don't 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.520 have money for it. So you think these are the 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.760 places I will refer to any of the black youth, 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.000 and also all the programs they go to they want 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.760 to leave because of the racism, other kids teasing them 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.639 that are Caucasian, the staff not saying nothing. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.280 The racism is throughout this movement. 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:23.760 It's very difficult. 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.959 And Tina solution to get involved in every aspect of 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.560 the movement, from working on policy to training judges to 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:37.160 implementing a curriculum on domestic sex trafficking in the school system. 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.280 I will tell you if you talk to anyone in 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.160 this area, they are going to say, Tina, do everything 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:47.080 Hanti you have to, because one needs the other. I 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.679 started a youth policy group and it's funded and our 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:54.440 youth get paid. I don't believe in these things where 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.800 they ask the youth and give them twenty five dollars 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.879 gift cards to get seventy five dollars every week and 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.600 one hundred dollars for all politicians you know they talk to. 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.520 First, we worked on because they really wanted to work 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:09.280 on the. 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.879 Not legalizing prostitution in DC, so we were able to 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.400 block that bill. And right now we're focusing on foster care, 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:20.919 change some policy. Then I am the first faculty survivor 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:26.520 African American for the National Judicial of Judges Training Center, 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:30.359 So we train judges on like how to identify and 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:35.560 not arresting. So I focus heavily on don't arrest because actually, 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.240 because they're judges, were all over them. Okay, I just 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.520 want to tell you how many of them are like, 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.040 you know what I do? I just put her in 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.480 jail and then she'll talk. And that's actually the behavior 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:51.120 that we try to change other alternative ways. The other 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.760 way I work on that is we have a curriculum 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.120 coming out in schools not in DC, Maryland, or Virginia, 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:02.440 but twenty three other states, and it is for kindergarten 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:03.800 through twelfth grade. 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:07.320 I really feel like it all has. 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.399 To be a community of understanding what's going on in 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.800 our own neighborhoods and what's affecting our kids who are 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.560 getting good grades, who go to good schools in the area. 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.480 Things about grown people manipulating, so of course any one. 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:21.440 Can get manipulated. 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.920 We have to work on five hundred things of changing laws. 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.320 If we didn't change laws like we have to write, 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:34.280 because we have to still do the work and support them. 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:35.120 Tina says. 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.320 Approaching the issue holistically like this makes a huge difference because, 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:44.239 unlike many other similar organizations, Courtney's House provides support that 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:46.399 lasts four years down the line. 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.240 Think about us is several long term program We have 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.760