March 25-27, ’13 In high school I pretty much grazed by with a C average. An occasional D or even F would interrupt my average streak and when it did, I felt either pretty lame, stupid or embarrassed that I didn’t do what it took to earn something higher. Yesterday was a big day for Oregon. It was a big day for a 15 year-old Freshman named Zarriah, too. When she saw my cheesy video promoting Oregon’s Lobby Day in support of some new anti-trafficking bills, she was all over it and asked for a ride. She didn’t realize all she’d signed up for, riding with the likes of me. Oregon has earned the grade of “D” not just last fall, but the fall of 2011, by Shared Hope International, for legislative efforts (or lack thereof) to fight child sex trafficking and protect its victims. It sucked in High School, and getting a D still sucks.
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to support some kind of effort to raise that grade, and yesterday it came: two bills were drafted – one by my friend Nita Belles from Bend and the other by Shared Hope who hired attorney Joel Shapiro to help. Nearly identical, they may merge into one, but together they pack some power and comprehensively kick some ass that should have been kicked years ago. Zarriah and I (accompanied by my patient son) lobbied for the first time ever, in support of these bills, getting to cut our teeth on Rep. Chuck Thomsen (R26). Afterward, we drove around Salem looking for a good coffee house, when I recalled a lil place on Liberty St. called The Beanery. When I got there, I knew we’d have to take advantage of not just the coffee, but a tour of the establishment right next door, Salem’s International House of Prayer.
I had toured the place a few years prior and was told some pretty interesting things, like how it use to be a hoppin’ club called Six Ultra Lounge, or “The Six”. We looked up to see where all the poles came out of the ceilings, implying to us it functioned as a strip club. We looked around at the coffee bar and imagined how it was once used for selling alcohol. We walked by a window in the floor which we were told was (presumedly) used at one time by men to look up at those walking or standing above, from the level below. At the top of a narrow dark staircase, I showed her the “Red Room”, a vile, tiny VIP area with once velvety walls, and another pole in the center that had been removed. On the tour, we were told men would line the nearby hallway to pay for shows and deeds from girls who were enslaved there. I know someone who was sex trafficked and actually went there while it was in business as a club. She recalled to me while on her tour of the place, her memories of seeing men go up that staircase to that special room in the back, where they paid extra for things they wouldn’t be able to get or see, in the front of the club.
As we were led to the back of the building and down another set of disintegrating steps, we were able to see several more rooms that were, based on all that was left there when it was abandoned, presumedly used for the sexual mistreatment and patronage of others, along with drinking and drug use in the pool room / shot-bar (now an employee break room). Another back room was the most telling of them all – where the money was once kept in a safe. We stepped down into a place with no windows, that could only lock from the outside. According to our tour guide, the previous owner had the room rigged that way most likely so that if the cops were called and they were being raided, girls from the upper levels of the club could be lowered one by one through a trap door in the ceiling (which we saw as well) just above this lower room. When the House of Prayer was asked to take over the place and clean it up, they didn’t notice the room at first. Its door, at least a foot lower than the others, was covered up by a very lightweight bookcase which could be easily removed in a hurry, to get to it. Because that room was lower than the rest, there were concrete steps that led down to it, which were originally covered by a piece of wood and a rug…again, easy to remove to gain access to that room. We could see how hypothetically, the bookcase, rug and wood panel could be moved, people could be dropped down to that floor from the one above, and then be shoved into that cold room with no light, food or water. The door would lock and trigger a wire (which was still attached to the wall) that would set off an alarm if someone tried to leave. Part of the walls were then unfinished, leaving those who were down there exposed to the earth at least twelve feet below Liberty Street. Our guide told us how when they took over the place, that was how it looked. I can’t imagine how scared anyone must have felt down in that room…how they had to cope with their emotions.
It was an eye opener for my friend, Zarriah, who is just learning about the depth and depravity of sex trafficking. But she is so grateful that this establishment has miraculously turned into something completely contrasting – in 2011, it was taken over by The House of Prayer where it is open 12 hours a day and people go to pray and worship. After our lil tour, we headed back to the steps of the Capitol for a rally and speech about the importance of passing these new bills which will protect victims, give them better rights and make it a law that buyers of sex with minors must register as a sex offender and have a felony on their record (among other provisions). Survivor & friend, Rebecca Bender spoke from her 6 years of experience being trafficked by a notorious pimp. She a beautiful soul. A mentor, an encourager and a God-fearing fighter for justice now.
Monday was a good day. Hopefully soon, these bills will pass into law and our grade will raise to a C or even a B, and when funded and enforced, will make a huge difference in the future of the youth of this state. A far as one youth, Ms. Z, I know her future is already looking bright. She is an activist already ~ miles ahead of her peers. She’s already chosen sex trafficking as a school project and been a part of “Model UN” getting a chance to write a paper on how she proposes to end it, and then actually getting to present it to the United Nations! She will become a world changer…I can just feel it. With youth like this on the front lines, I feel a fresh breath of wind in my sails…hope for the next generation.
Diary of an Incurable Fanatic 