Abolitionist Post

Tuesday June 15th Christ Fellowship's J1Ten hosted an Art Show / Bake Sale to raise money for Hope For Freedom and Not for Sale. Specifically, most of the money donated was to help send Konrad and I to Thailand for an investigative trafficking trip and to work with an incredible modern day abolitionist named Kru Nam (more on that trip later). Mainly, I wanted to thank all the artists that donated their work and the wonderful people that baked endless confection creations to help raise money. Gerry Jamison donated one of his magnificent wrought iron sculptures that was raffled off for close to $150. (A bird in flight called "Freedom.") My biggest regret of the night was not getting more pictures of the event. Otherwise here is some of the featured art donated by various artists. Thank you all so much for your generosity! Together by leveraging what influence we have we are fighting for those who can't defend themselves to end modern slavery in our lifetime!
Thank YOU!

http://www.formspring.me/krbruce

I might over-examine things. Actually I do. Not in a bad way, more in a soaking wet with curiosity kind of way. For instance, I know we have this thing called culture. Its just how we do things. But how do we simply walk into it and adapt to its waters and never question it?

So, I’m talking to my friend Twohill yesterday and we were laughing at how people will dish out millions of dollars for little animals (we love animals too bear with me haters). Like there was an animal rescue org in CA that had this huge campaign to nurture some little seal. They raised millions of dollars to concoct the creature a specific comfortable aquatic sanctuary, nurse it and harbor it. After some time, the organization sponsored an enormous local event where they were going to launch this million dollar stock investment back into the wild. Animal obsessive enthusiasts came from all over to cheer this little blubber nugget on its way out into the vast primeval oceanic jungle. Not five minutes after the beastie gyrated its ways through the Pacific layers, a monstrous killer whale swooped in outta no where and intercepted the seal into its destined killer jaw cage. All of the hard earned “American Dream” dollars lobbied for the support of this animal chunk were swallowed into oblivion without so much as a drop of ketchup.

All that extensive tale to question, what is wrongggg with people in our culture that we are so quick to pump extra cash into the unnecessary care of wild animals while at the same time there are people that are desperately fighting to barely survive life in this world.

We feel so accomplished when we support a child by donating a few bucks a month or tossing some change in the orphan bucket on our way through the grocery line, but how is our culture NOT in a state of EMERGENCY based on the catastrophic imbalance of life, love, and the pursuit of happiness (fahget about prosperity!). Our culture is so egocentric, how do we even sleep at night on our perfect tempurpedic mattresses (where a chick can jump up and down on it and the dude’s glass of wine doesn’t spill) when there are places in the world where 30 kids sleep on a floor in a one bedroom house with no mother to tuck them in or no promise of breakfast in the morning and the constant fear of being trafficked because their life has little to no value. WHAT kind of a culture are we living in? Who do we think we are?

I know that people are drowning in our culture. I know that people are numb. I know that my emotion might not jump off this screen into your heart or soul. I know that these paragraphs might even be too long to even hold your short attention span. But if nothing else, please examine our culture… your reality, and expand your perspective outside your excessive comfort and feel a little less comfortable knowing that there are cycles of unnecessary evil in the world and you can do something to end their perpetuation.

I am not the biggest fan of MTV, but I have to give them props for this vid...
I love the message of the dichotomy of a privileged kid and an enslaved kid. Notice I didn't say "your average everyday child." Our freedom is such a gift and child trafficking and slave labor is more widespread than we can grasp. Let this sink in as you assume your daily routine is typical, because its not. Its not. People all over the world are fighting to survive and their biggest problem is not dysfunctional parents or overly-prescribed drugs like ritalin, or trying to loose weight to feel better about the way they look. This is reality.

over 1500 students showed up to CF Students' Block Party. As part of the Love Moves series $2 of every ticket was donated to Not for Sale FL. thank you for your support! God Bless you all- big things!!

Today I am free.
But, I never want to take for granted the fact that even though its not happening right in front of my face, in my comfortable little bubble of existence and entitlement, people, boys and girls, that had dreams just like me are not free.
Today, a little bit of my freedom was robbed because theirs was taken too.

Stop pretending this doesn't touch you because the longer you keep it at an arm's length, the more its going to invade your comfort zone.

Stop numbing yourself with disposable things. Because at the end of your comfort... in a sense... you might truly start to live.

Ready... Actionnn

Not For Sale | Shadowhands from Not For Sale Campaign on Vimeo.

3.29.10

When the world is a little too determined to shut God out of life... we end up with hell on earth.
so I say- lets charge into Hell and take Heaven with us.

I am the mafia queen of garbage crafts. My dad's office shelves are packed with my creations and my mom has the thought-filled rubbish cluttering our house (please don't let this hinder you from inviting me to your birthday or wedding). Client's who enter my dad's office seeking counseling must wonder why he has a paper mache frog or photos in chunked puzzle piece frames. Sure, my dad could run to Pier 1 and grab some professional aesthetic sophisticate decor that is conducive to an overly coordinated office magazine ad, BUT how you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator.. (inspired by Rob Bell)

hmmm The phrase that pays... {lets go for a ride}
Unpack that thought. How I treat you reflects how I feel about God. He created you didn't he?
-God created us in His image, we are a reflection of our creator.
-When I respect the image of God in others, I am protecting the image of God in myself.
-When we don't respect and love one another, something happens to us. We lose some of our humanity.

Sooo here is the roadmap of my thoughts. How do we get to the point that we enslave one another? Or kidnap innocent children and exploit them sexually to make a profit? This is literally hell on Earth. It knocks the wind out of me and shatters my heart. Restore humanity and love our creator.
I am not for sale, you are not for sale, nobody should be for sale.

3.22.10

Rewinddddd
Mowing the lawn multiple times in one Saturday to earn enough money to finance my wish list, basketball, boys, breaking driving rules, avoiding curfew, cutting out magazine clipping to tape to my bedroom wall... sounds shallow eh? or pitiful and purposeless.
Embarrassing... these were probably my highest priorities in high school.

Wowzers: Over half of all victims of human trafficking are under 18 years old. This is not only tragic, it is empowering to realize the importance of young people's potential to prevent this illicit trade.

Growing up I could recite the obvious, don't talk to strangers and don't climb into creepy vans with men who offer you candy. But imagine if kids were more educated on this widespread social injustice, not only for their own protection and prevention, but for fueling them with a passion to help enslaved kids just like them (rather than being consumed with what dress to wear to prom).

Start Freedom, a dynamic new global project that aims to engage and raise awareness among young people, helping them learn about the issues surrounding human trafficking.
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/startfreedom/

3.21.10


*ahem* excuse me... can I buy a small claim of real estate in your attention span for a minute?
I don't know what I don't know.
I was blind to my own blindness.
And so are you.

More and more I realize how deceived and lied to I am. By shifty politicians and government, by manipulative and photo-shopped advertisements, media, and "celebrities," by smiling, perfectly powdered news anchors and their journalism, doctors trying to sell drugs, even people who falsely portray themselves on their picture perfect profiles on your favorite flavor of social media.

Most recently, the deception that has RUINED me falls under the umbrella of consumerism. I hate materialistic consumerism. If it were possible I would chain it to the heaviest rock in the world and toss it into the ocean for the whales to deal with rather than continue to allow it to suck the brains out of our culture. I hate materialism. Advertisements and selfishness have generated a false "need" that has caused even the best of "good people" to work jobs they hate so that they can set their life goals to perpetually chasing cars and clothes and other things they don't need.
Now there are more faces to this issue that I would like to slap than the whole butt of consumerism, yet there is this term that keeps whispering in my ear...slavery. As if it isn't bad enough that we all must commit our lives to acquiring things we don't need. We aren't even informed consumers! We don't even care what it takes to get what we want, we just want it as fast and as cheap as possible. Before you eat those M&M's, would they taste as sweet as before if you knew that enslaved children in Africa harvested the beans to produce your candy? You just perpetuated their torture so that you could have a sugar fix.

William Wilberforce was a vigorous pioneer driving the momentum to abolish slavery during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Part of his efforts included his abstinence in sugar. Even though he drank bitter tea at least he had the peace of mind that he was not perpetuating the enslavement of another human being.

Novelist John Berger says "The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied... but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing."

As a consumer, how much would you pay for that new hot pair of nike dunks? How much would you pay for the child that made them?



Millions have been trafficked into forced labour worldwide. Human trafficking is big and getting bigger. It is happening on every continent and in almost every country: whether the place we live is a source, destination or transit point for trafficking, none of us can claim to be wholly unaffected by this crime.

Some documented successes thus far include: Cadbury committed to a Fair Trade Dairy Milk, and Mars promised to certify the Galaxy bar with the Rainforest Alliance by 2010, and their whole range by 2020. Within a few weeks of targeting Nestlé to commit to a fair trade Kit Kat, we got news that they too were following suit in the United Kingdom by introducing a Fairtrade four-finger Kit Kat in January. This is a start, but it is nowhere near the end.
**source:"Prevention, Prosection, and Protection -- Human Trafficking" UN Chronicle
By Ruth Dearnley and Steve Chalke

3.3.10



I am still wading in the pool of veneration and slapping the waters of revelry from our weekend in Washington DC.
I am overwhelmed with a sense of admiration and appreciation for the opportunity to be involved in this social justice movement and walk among giants such as David Batstone.

I gained so much clarity and direction in my life that I determined I could do nothing less than dedicate my time and energies toward the advocacy of abolishing slavery in our lifetime. It hit me so hard as I was reading Batstone's book Not For Sale that I wanted to slap the issue of US weekly out of the girl's hands in the seat next to me on the plane ride home. WHERE are American's heads at? it turns me upside down.

Upon arriving in Washington DC I felt left out in my wandering traipse up and down the historical walks of power and prestige as everyone else left me in the dust of purpose and determinism. I had such a hypersensitivity to a missional vibe electrifying the pavements. I melted in the shadows of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial imagining these much talked about figures' whose faces appear on our very currency. How did they achieve? What series of events lead up them to this point of existence?

After marching about the playgrounds of eminence and esteem we collaborated with the Not For Sale national team as well as representatives from 32 states in the continental U.S. on Monday morning. I have never felt like I spent my time more wisely- mom would be proud.

We went on a rollercoaster ride of emotion from the devastating stories and real life catastrophes terrorizing our world from a secret hush hush crime syndicate happening right in front of us, to praising the efforts of Not for Sale in swiftly shifting our paradigms to action and abolition. Obviously this issue is unjust. Few people would sign the papers shipping a child's existence away to slavery, yet even those of us who would dedicate a lifetime to ridding the world of this issue may be intangibly perpetuating slavery through the coffee we drink, shirt we wear, car we drive, and chocolate we eat.

So we set to work preparing for over 200 meetings with representative congressmen and state senators to advocate the TVPR Trafficking Victims Protection Act 1631. With a group of 8 Floridian Constituents including a teacher, a contractor, students, and local church representatives, I was completely encouraged and energized. Our meetings generated an incredible response from our state rep and certainly left an impression on our senator's office.

If this is all boring you then I apologize. I know there is a lot more glitz and glam in raiding a brothel and dragging enslaved girls out to freedom fearing an enraged mafioso pimp chasing after you with Albanian death threats. Or even navigating the darkened dismal streets of Miami looking for girls that have gone missing from their Midwest fenced in neighborhoods. Regardless we all must do something. Talk about it. Cry about it. Scream about it. Trafficking had to become a dirty word in our vocabulary. A familiar concept with tell tale signs that we all are able to recognize and fight against. Because otherwise, this cancer continues to grow and fester in the shadows of our society. Corruption and apathy will continue to trap children on the street with not even the police to run to.

This issue is an enormous storm that continues to drain torrential downpours all over the entire world. Have you even ever stopped to think; Where did this shirt come from that I'm wearing? I mean beyond the hanger at the store in the mall. Could you be wearing the sweat and tears of a child? Be a smart consumer and be aware of the enslavement that you could have supported in your daily activities today.

talk about it
{stay tuned}

2.26.10

"There are times to read history and there are times to make history"
-David Batstone

will we stand up and be counted among the courageous and just?
I think we all ask ourselves, are we of sOme significance in this world??? We are all striving to leave our fingerprints somewhere.
I used to read history books like history is over. Like time has just plateaued and the opportunity for epic stories of heroics has diminished so we will all simply reside in our suburban neighborhoods and watch tv and eat microwave dinners and shop at the local mall on Friday nights for the latest digs.
Revelation: we are in history books and our chapter covers the topic of slavery. Whaaaaa? yup. but its like this- David Batstone says that ingrained in the collective psyche of western culture is the notion of the Transatlantic slave trade and this cultural myth that "real slavery" was vanquished long ago. FALSE
but here is the test--
How would you have responded in 1855 if Harriet Tubman knocked on your door and pleaded that sources had said you would be a probable safe house in her underground railroad to harbor southern plantation slaves to safety. Or if in 1942 the Nazis knocked on your door in pursuit of the Jews in your neighborhood? There is a black market for human beings in our world today. Its conducted in the shadows and kept hush hush. Its a raging wildfire catastrophe in Asia and its seeping into our backyards in America.
Will future generations look back and judge our choices and be INSPIRED or disappointed??

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
edmund burke
psalm 33:5-11
The Lord loves righteousness and JUSTICE


read Not for Sale by David Batstone
join Not for Sale Florida on Facebook

2.14.10

I am beginning to understand that the model set before me may not be what I am designed for. Of course I desire the familiarity of the story; two strategically placed figures of authority, perfectly in love playing their roles, a brother a sister a dog a trampoline. School, work, play, structure, I'm fine thanks how are you. Its all so planned and reliable.
But tell me how I am to recreate this suburban mona lisa story when I know that little girls in red dresses with nothing but a number safety pinned to their dresses are being bought and sold with a menu of services to monsters to use them for $20??

Would I rather aim to deal with my own rebellious teenagers or seek justice for the 12 yr old commodities being used over 100 times a day? Marked up more valuable than a one time use drug?

Knowledge is an arcade fire. My self constructed reality of the world has been wiped clean like grafitti art ghosts in the night. Anything I have written or said before this point was from a different person. Goals of comfort, ownership, and ignorance are gone. My realization of the greater metanarrative becomes more and more clear. I am just a part of this story and I am not the author producer or director.

Of course I still hope for the pawns of tradition. Joys found in the antiques of humanity. Companionship, a place to call home, a vacation here and there. But I cannot progress from this point absorbed in my own to-do lists without paying proper attention to justice and the preservation of humanity and these things called ethics and morals.

Three cheers to resetting the compass of life. Bon voyage

1.15.10

{does anyone out there even read this??}
I have once again owned up to my lack of commitment in this blogging relationship but that is because I was punched in the stomach.

I was punched and it wrecked me for silly little daily thoughts of life because there is a much bigger issue at hand. We are on the edge of history. You know when you read stories of heroics and tales that seem from another world. Well we have existed inside our pleasant-ville of uniform shopping centers and cookie cutter neighborhoods for too long. I can't pretend that I am the only one in the world anymore. Knowledge is power? Well it can ruin you also and I am not gonna change the channel on this uncomfortable message.

I'm talking about slavery.
No I'm not a civil war re-enactor. In this present world there are more people enslaved than there have ever been before. 27,000,000. count the zeros and let that sink in. Those trafficked in these chains will rake in about $32 billion a year according to the International Labor Office. Crimes that thrive in the shadows.

yup... people are absorbing their pleasant harmonious ipod vibes, typing away on their personally owned computer technology, laughing at affectionate texts from lovers and friends and sucking down fancy caffinated drinks all around me while I have just uncovered the knowledge that human trafficking will undoubtedly climb to the number one spot of crime in the world in this next year. In fact it racked in more profit than Nike, Google, and Starbucks COMBINED just in 2007. Sick. sick. sick.

Yet... the world around me looks so... so perfect, fulfilling, content and pleasant. I don't want to believe it. But the more I look the more I see the reality. The more I realize this is not just happening in Thailand, Haiti and other far off lands with names I can't pronounce. No, there was a report of a trafficking ring busted not 15 miles from my apartment last week!

Humans, a hot commodity??
Have you ever looked at the faces on a side of a milk carton and wondered where they could have possibly gone?

If this doesn't break your heart. You don't have one.
{stay tuned}