While distinguished academies of higher learning, governments, politicians and the media struggle to find solutions to the imminent dangers posed to the Middle East and the world at large, a devastating human rights war has unfolded, with precious few warriors to combat it, let alone stem the brutal injustice that is of holocaust dimensions.
If there is any scourge that puts civilization at risk, it is the malignant disregard for the human rights of millions of people who suffer slavery and inhumane treatment at the hands of fellow human beings.
With 30 million people in slavery today, 30 million seeds of strife have been sown, as the souls of these victims are seared beyond human recognition.
The evil that permeates sex trafficking is not going to stop, but it can be discouraged and abated and people's lives spared the incalculable damage such evil inflicts. The scourge will continue; tomorrow's media reports will detail more tragedy for the victims of human trafficking. As Matthew records it, Jesus tells his disciples [and us] that: "Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." Tragically, this is the very situation and response all too many victims of human trafficking face in today's world.
Human trafficking cannot be combated by indifference or ignorance, but by the education of people worldwide to awaken them to this 21st century tragedy, as well as by instilling in people worldwide the courage and determination to stand and fight this evil, as William Wilberforce did centuries ago in England, and as Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee is doing today.
Much has been written and reported about Sen. Corker's initiatives to counter human trafficking. He is America's 21st century Wilberforce, a positive force with whom to be reckoned in politics nationally and internationally, as Wilberforce was in his time.
Sen. Corker's End Modern Slavery Initiative Act of 2015 "creates a powerful effort in concert with the private sector and foreign governments to help eliminate modern slavery around the world," according to a recent news release.
His legislation passed unanimously out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; he worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move the bill through Congress. Last December, with little public fanfare, President Obama signed legislation that included authorizing language for this initiative.
The lack of publicity the Obama White House gave to Sen. Corker's initiative may have been related to an Aug. 7, 2015, report in The Washington Times heralding the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman for taking the lead among his colleagues in accusing President Obama of "playing politics with human trafficking." Sen. Corker said the administration's [public] policy [approach] 'trumped any real regard for humans being trafficked.'" The senator went on to say: "This is possibly the most heartless lacking-of-substance presentation [of public policy] I have ever seen about a serious topic."
William Wilberforce would be proud of Sen. Corker's courageous stand against the specter of human trafficking and those who would play politics with the lives of the victims of modern day slavery; and, as a proud Tennessean, so am I.
Ron Petitte, professor and head of politics and government at Bryan College, also serves as dean of the school's Honors Institute and associated centers of excellence. Contact him at petittro@bryan.edu.