Does Awareness Really Matter?
Last week, your social media timelines were likely dominated by pictures of red X’s drawn on hands, if you follow any anti-trafficking organizations or advocates. The annual Shine a Light on Slavery Day, organized by the End It Movement, was on February 25th, and each year year it’s one of the most collaborative and anticipated awareness events for people to show their support of the movement to end modern day slavery. I personally shared a couple of pictures that day, along with a few of the teens involved in our Teens Stand Against Trafficking ( TSAT) program. But at the end of the day, did any of it really make a difference?
The TL/DR version of this post is, yes, awareness serves an important purpose in social justice movements. Awareness initiatives educate the community, recruit new supporters to your movement, and help to amplify a message with the goal of getting enough attention to prompt action and then change. I do understand the criticism of campaigns like Shine a Light on Slavery Day however. On the surface, posting a red X on social media doesn’t seem to move us any closer to ending slavery. And if that’s the only thing you do to advocate for change, then it probably doesn’t make a difference. Eliminating a $150 billion dollar industry, the second largest criminal industry, does not happen overnight. It will take more awareness campaigns, more people joining the movement, more meetings with policy makers, more resources for anti-trafficking and social services agencies, and more training for judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement. I also believe that awareness campaigns that result in a lot of people participating help recharge and reenergize a movement. Social justice work is hard work, and sometimes progress can be seen, and other times it feels like you’re taking a step backwards. It’s easy to get frustrated and pessimistic, but when you can join together with other passionate advocates during a campaign, you know that you’re not in the fight alone.
Awareness leads to action, and action leads to change. One of Free To Run Foundation’s main focus areas is raising awareness, through our running events, doing training presentations in the community, movie screenings and speaker series events, and yes, through social media campaigns. The need for awareness will not disappear until human trafficking is eradicated from the face of the earth. Our hope is that will happen during this current generation of teens who are part of TSAT. Teens are making their voices heard with this movement and with others like gun control and climate change. There are also many great organizations in the US and around the world who are making great strides, rescuing survivors, working to improve justice systems, strengthening laws, and training those on the front lines. (Last year we published a blog post with a list of some of these organizations along with other useful resources here.)
The bottom line is, as social justice advocates, we cannot just rely on posting on social media and waiting for action. Sure, your post may educate one person who gets actively involved, and they end up influencing the key policy maker who helps to pass a ground breaking law. If that does happen, you won’t see that payoff until well down the road. That means we need to keep sharing our message not just one day but every day of the year, continue learning about the nuances of the issues and how to be better advocates and allies, and develop effective strategies for mobilizing the community around you and reaching key influencers. We are in this fight together, so know that you also have a support system around you. And remember the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote if you are ever feeling despair about the fight for social justice, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”