What Would Harriet Tubman Say About Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking?

Bondage takes many forms, and the devil is patient. When I was enslaved, the chains were iron you could see and hear. Today, your modern trafficking — it binds people in darkness just the same. Young girls sold into houses of shame. Men trapped in debt they cannot escape. Whole families locked into systems that feed the rich while starving the poor. The names have changed. The North Star still shines the same.

What troubles me most is that people with freedom look away. In my time, good Christian folk in the North knew slavery existed and some closed their eyes to comfort themselves. I see that same turning away now. You have tools — cameras in your pockets, words that travel faster than any underground railroad — yet trafficking hides in plain sight.

I tell you what I told those who helped me: You cannot claim to be free if you ignore the chains on your neighbor. Every person stolen, every voice silenced, every body made into property — that is a wound on your own soul. The Lord did not free me so I could rest easy while others suffered.

What gives me hope is that some of you still hear the call. Some still risk comfort to move toward danger for someone else's freedom. That is the old work in new clothes. Find those being trafficked. Know their names. Support those who hunt down the hunters. Do not look away.

Freedom is not a destination you reach and then forget about. It is a work you do every day — for yourself and for every soul still in chains, visible or hidden. The North Star has not moved. The path is still there for those brave enough to walk it.