We want to thank the participates that help make the Save Our Family a success ! May God forever bless the soldiers of our community who want to end sex trafficking and abuse.
Panelist : (l-r) Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. is the immediate National President/CEO of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc., Brother Shaka X Greene Educator / Founder & Executive Director of Bravo Zulu Chess Academy, Sister Sudan Muhammad CEO of Youth Creation Magazine and Sister LaKisha Davis and activist of Stop Stealing Our Soul
Sex trafficking and abuse in communities of color don't get the same media attention as they should. It's our responsibility as a community to utilize the tools we do have available to us. They may have mainstream media, but we have social media. If used properly, we can report things that are important in our community, in particular, finding our missing women and children.
If we belong to a mosque or a church, we can have town hall meetings to address issues that we can solve together, no matter our theological beliefs. Historically before social media, faith-based institutions were the greeting grounds for some of our social issues and gave us a chance to get to know our neighbors & those running for public office. A broken community is a key factor as to why so much chaos can go by without being challenged. It is our responsibility to police ourselves and polices our community.
A Mothers Cry
In attendance, we had many organizations and activists willing to partake in the program. One activist that shared her story was Valencia Harris. Her daughter was abducted 13 years ago. Imagine your child is missing for a half hour, 20 minutes, two days, or one day a week. Now add years to that.
As Sister Valencia grabbed the microphone, she took a deep breath and began to address the audience.
"I want to thank everybody for being a part of the solution as supposed to being part of the problem. We know we got a lot of things going on out here; my story, in particular, is about my daughter Unique Harris. She was abducted from her home while my two grandsons were asleep. This year will be 13 years since she was taken out of her home while my grandsons were sleeping, and I've been on a mission not just for my grandson and my family but other families as well."
"Sometimes, stories like my daughter's story, the media machine would tell me that my daughter's story wasn't good enough for their network.
"The good news is we have the trial and everything coming out now. And I say that to say all the blood, sweat, and tears that I put into finding out what happened to my child and getting a resolution. I prefer the word resolution because there is no closure in this situation. There would be no such thing even if my daughter came back to her children right now; that is almost 13 years. Both of her sons and I had to move on and function and become productive, constructive members of society. That's not easy for a child when they are three or four years old, and you go to sleep one night, and your mother is there, and you wake up the next morning, and she's gone".
"I wanted to help as many families as I possibly can because of what I've been through. When I first got into this, I didn't know what to do. There's no manual on if your child comes up missing; this is what you're supposed to do A B C D, we have to figure it out for ourselves.
Please get involved. There are many stories like Sister Valencia Harris that go ignored and don't receive the support system that is needed to find an abducted loved one. A unified community is a safe and decent place to live. It's up to us to bring that into a reality.