The Current

This past weekend, I saw the newly released film 12 Years a Slave. It tells the story of Solomon Northup, and African American man born free but tricked and trafficked into slavery in the South. The film is based on his own brave account of his journey from freedom to slavery to freedom again. And it’s hard to watch: the movie is graphic and doesn’t shy away from the great ugliness and darkness that is slavery. Most of the time, you’re holding your breath—unable to hope for a good outcome even though you know how the story ends.

Solomon does make it back to his family and his freedom. But the end credits also tell you that justice is never fully realized for Solomon; despite extensive procedures in court, those who were responsible for his kidnapping and enslavement are not punished.

Walking out of the theater, everyone was exhaling, shaking their heads and trying to get their minds around what they had just seen. It’s a terrible story to witness—you can’t just walk away and leave it.

29.8 Million and You

What the end credits didn’t tell you was that the violent oppression of slavery isn’t only a blight of the past; it is an enormously dark reality of the present. What happened to Solomon Northup happens today. Every day and everywhere, women, men and children are deprived of their freedom and their lives.

Walk Free recently released its Global Slavery Index, where it reveals a truly global problem. A key finding of the report is that today, all over our world, an estimated 29.8 million people are enslaved. 29.8 million! Like 12 Years a Slave, that number is hard to see, hard to know, hard to wrap your mind around. It’s not a number that you can sit comfortably with, nor should you.

Solomon Northup’s reunion with his family and his freedom happened because some friends in the North used their voices and influence. You and I need to join together and use our voices and influence to ask those with even more power than ourselves to take action, because 29.8 million human beings are being oppressed and cannot speak for themselves.

Slavery will be a thing of the past one day, but will it be in our day? That’s up to us.

IJM will be mobilizing advocates and students across the country for a Day of Action on November 19. Stay tuned for how you can be a voice for freedom this fall.

Image: Quote from Solomon Northup, 12 Years a Slave