There's good reason to applaud the awareness campaign known as SlaveFree Madison, which is staging a presentation on Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Sequoya Branch Library, 7-8 p.m. Human trafficking is an ongoing problem, encompassing migrant farm workers, restaurant workers and sex-industry workers - victims of economic and physical coercion.
"Modern-day slavery is in our own backyard," says the group's chair, JoAnn Gruber Hagen, in a press release. "Slaves are usually held against their will, by force, beatings, drugs or violent threats toward the victim's family." (The group's website, But what's most extraordinary is that the effort has the early support of Dave Cieslewicz. Mayors tend to be squeamish about admitting slavery exists in their cities. SlaveFree Madison's release says the mayor signed a proclamation "in recognition that human trafficking can happen locally as well as globally." Cieslewicz says he didn't mean to affirm that there are slaves in Madison: "To be honest, it's not something I've spent a lot of time studying or looking into." But he nonetheless stakes out a position. "It's not that controversial to say importing women or anyone for the purpose of prostitution is reprehensible," he says. "Obviously, if that's taking place here, we're very much against it."
