Sexually Exploited Minors Awareness Week

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The Youth Uprising center, in conjunction with Program Coordinator Zandra Washington of the ICPC, played host to another stellar community engagement yesterday. The difficult subject of teen prostitution was forced to the fore of the Alameda County community. The town hall meeting included a panel discussion which took place in East Oakland where over one hundred reporters, activists, council members, mayoral reps., and concerned citizens showed their support, voiced solutions, proposed next steps, and networked.

East Oakland, a community already riddled with gun violence, discovered that it has yet another sociological challenge: namely-- teenage prostitution.

The meeting opened with a poem from "Sunny", a female teenage resident who has a personal interest in the sexual exploitation of minors. Sunny's moving poem shared the experience of her grandmother whose mother died when she was only 13. Sunny's grandmother was approached by her landlord who assured her that she would be taken care of so long as the thirteen year old provided him with "favors".

Sunny was moved to tears when she tearfully told the crowd that an audience member resembled her grandmother. The passion of the day mushroomed from that moment.

Pacifica Radio's KPFA sponsored this monumental event while Hard Knock radio's co-founder, Weyland Southan facilitated a panel discussion. The panel included teen trainer Nola Brantly, nationally renown rapper T-Kash, Youth Justice Initiative rep. July Posadas Guzman, and OPD Special Justice Unit officer Holly Joshi. The panel later included journalist Kamika Dunlap and two other minors.

Nola is an effervescent personality whose energy filled the room all afternoon. She proved she was valuable beyond personality by consistently rattling off related statistics. However, as with most of the panelists she touched the audience using a parable.

Nola told the story of a teenage girl who was sexually exploited by a mentally challenged man. That man was a police officer. The audience reacted with shock when Nola declared that the teenager illustrated in the story was her.

At times boys in their teen years are beguiled by older men to coerce girls into accepting a life of exploitation. T-Kash pleased the audience's humanity by admitting to being a former pimp. He explained the confusion between his original understanding of manhood and the true meaning of being a man. He, like many young men, considered the act of dominating women a type of rite of passage.

The characteristic of disrespect for humankind is as evident in pimps as it is in murderers. Hence, it is logical to conclude that the ugliest of problems within our community are foundational, individualistic, they are character flaws. Environment, people, and religions dictate ones character. We must identify the shortcomings in these areas and resolve them.

At least two environmental shortcomings were identified in the town hall meeting. Economics drives prostitution. Young girls, typically runaways, have a need for fast money due to their unstable environments. You would suspect that they have minimal skills by virtue of their young age. Like stripping to a college student, prostitution is a means to an end for homeless high-school students/dropouts.

Johns or pimps are often short on funds as well. Pimps tend to be men or women who were abused as children. You can already see the potentiality of a vicious cycle. It is imperative to rescue these children while they are still young. Victims tend to become offenders.

Another environmental shortcoming was exposed. One of the victims of sexual exploitation described having a pimp as, "basically like having a daddy." I pity the the child whose definition of a father is analogous to a pimp. A pimp is not even a man. Fathers are supermen. Nevertheless, an education of manhood must take place within our community. It will benefit young boys and girls.

Kamika Dunlap was kind enough to remind us that media has room for improvement. When I asked her about the challenges she faced with respect to reporting stories on exploited minors, she answered, "it was difficult". Artists, journalists, and poets must remind us of our shortcomings if we are ever to resolve them.

July Posadas Guzman is a woman who appears to long for the healing these victimized youth. She offered thoughtful comments all afternoon. She also offered a challenge to the men in the audience. She requested that successful fathers document and share their guide to raising men. This suggestion is crucial. Currently, corporate American men believe it's manly to work 14+ hours a day behind a desk. But notice how many homes that "manly" schedule divides. Notice how expensive it is. For an average employee making $20/hr, the projected cost of that employee divorcing is over $8,000.

Boys must understand the true definition of manhood. Traveling away from home, working 14 hours a day behind a desk, or being a pimp are by no means manly functions. I encourage the successful fathers reading this blog to meet July Guzman's challenge. Publish your guides to raising men.

Perhaps the most wrenching diatribe of the day came from the lips of OPD Special Justice Unit officer Holly Joshi. The room, full of Oakland citizens disturbed about the Department's long history of complicity in drug trafficking, use of excessive force, and murder caromed complaints and pop shots in her direction repetitively. After being martyred in the name of the Oakland Police for the bulk of the day's discourse, officer Joshi fought back.


"You can blame OPD all you want... I'm from Oakland. I grew up here. I understand the problems that you have with the Department. They have done things historically that were wrong. But what we need to focus on is how to resolve our community's problem's NOW.

My first case-- I was thrown into the fire-- My first case dealt with a 14 year old girl. Her pimp gave her Gonorrhea, Syphilis, he cut her on both breasts. She can never get all of her life back. These are the kinds of predators we deal with and he needed to be placed behind bars.

OPD is not a social service. We don't deal with cleaning people up. We capture suspects and rescue victims. Hopefully, the suspects will get rehabbed in prison. But right now we need to get these guys off of the street and behind bars."

Her voice was shaking throughout this heart-filled monologue. Upon completion, officer Joshi took a finishing deep breath sat back in her seat away from the mic and received an ovation from the skeptical crowd.

The event was necessary. My sense is that much good will come of it. Many eyes were open to this glaring disgusting problem. The rare mingling that took place between the community and the organizations that work daily with victims and perpetrators will likely lead to long term solutions.

Promise was already visible. Black men are often criticized for being absent from the home. Antithetically, there were a number of black men in the audience who voiced their concerns and proposed solutions. There were young boys who performed an original language art work detesting pimps and prostitution. Young girls who were once exploited delivered empowering messages of hope to those who were perhaps starting down the wrong path. Leadership was oozing out of the room.

Strength and honor to Oakland citizens.