On Saturday, the Contra Costa Human Trafficking Coalition, in collaboration with the City of Brentwood, invites the Brentwood community to raise awareness for human trafficking by partaking in the Red Sand Project.
The event will begin at 8:00 am at the Brentwood Farmers Market where the Coalition will have a tent and will be distributing free toolkit to participants until 12:00 pm. No advanced registration is required.
The Red Sand Project is an artwork that uses participatory sidewalk interventions to raise awareness by calling attention to the cracks that victims and survivors of human trafficking can often slip through, leaving the issue unaddressed in our communities. By filling cracks with red sand and documenting the transformation on social media with #RedSandProject, participants can help begin conversations about the issue of human trafficking in Contra Costa County.
In January, the Brentwood City Council voted to bring the event to Brentwood which was brought forward by Councilwoman Karen Rarey.
Councilwoman Karen Rarey explained at the meeting that human trafficking was occurring in Brentwood.
“Last year, I attended an event which featured speakers on the topic of human trafficking. One of the speakers, a Brentwood woman, said that unbeknownst to her, her teenage daughter who attended Liberty was coheres by a human trafficker using the Romeo effect. It wasn’t until she got a call from a detective in Southern California asking her to come and pick up her daughter that she learned what was going on,” said Rarey. “Her daughter had been rescued during a traffic ring sting down there and her daughters’ traffickers were preparing her to be shipped out with others out of the county for organ harvesting.”
Rarey explained that her daughter was approached and cohered right across the street from Liberty High School by Burger King.
“It is happening right here,” added Rarey. “You probably saw the news recently that an Antioch man who was arrested just after his 18th birthday on suspicion of human trafficking.”
Rarey also highlighted that last year, Golden Dragon Buffet here in Brentwood along with three other restaurants, the owners were arrested for forcing 40 employees to work 12-hour days, 6-days a week at less than minimum wage by keeping them in crowded homes.
She went on saying there were apps for teenagers that human traffickers are using to identify kids.
“The stories I shared are the reasons why I wanted to bring the Red Sand Project here and why the human trafficking 101 course is important to me,” said Rarey. “This will help people to identify who may be a victim.”
LEARN:
A free training, Human Trafficking 101, will take place at the Brentwood Community Center from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM for those who would like to take a more in-depth look at this issue. Participants will take a deep dive into the nuances of human trafficking, recognizing potential human trafficking activity and other resources available through the Coalition and its partners. Advanced registration is required: click here.
