Author Max Watson has written a book called A Nickel and a Trinket, which is contemporary urban fiction with a touch of magical realism. Originally she was going to release it in November, but after realizing that World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is on Friday, July 30, 2021, she released it early to support the cause. Sex trafficking is a topic that hits close to home for Max, and she tells the story of the area where she lived as well as a friend of hers who experienced this as a child. Please watch our Lurking for Legends livestream to hear Max speak on this important topic:
One of the many great points Max made during the show—and Richard backed her up based on his time in the police—is that sex trafficking is not so far from home as people tend to think. Stateside in America, there is no state that has zero detected cases of human trafficking.
A recent highly publicized case of human trafficking is Smallville actress Allison Mack, who was recently sentenced to three years in prison and a $20,000 fine for her role in recruiting for the sex trafficking organization, NXIVM. Her penalty was only that short because she helped with the case against Keith Raniere, the leader of the cult, who was sentenced to 120 years and must pay $3.4 million to 21 victims.
Sex trafficking remains the most common type of human trafficking to this day, and women are the majority of the targets for human trafficking in general.
There are some wonderful organizations that fight to end human trafficking and help reeducate and reintegrate victims into society. If you’d like to help, you can start by purchasing Max Watson’s A Nickel and a Trinket and spreading the word about the book, of which 1/3 of all profits will go to charity. As of the writing of this post, Max’s chosen charity is Love146, which you can learn more about here. If you’d like to see how Max’s charity efforts are going, she has created transparency on this page on her website.
If you need help for yourself or someone else, please visit https://humantraffickinghotline.org/ (there’s a Quick Exit button on the right if you need it) or call the National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888. You can also text them: 233733.
