River of Innocents

Dear board members:

I’m writing to you because I am deeply concerned about modern-day slavery. As you may know, there are thousands of slaves in the US today, and millions more overseas. The freedom we take for granted is something they don’t have; they’re locked up and abused, controlled by criminals in everything they do.

This is an issue that–if you act on it–will reaffirm our belief in you as community leaders. More importantly, this is an issue where you can literally prevent rapes and murders, free slaves from bondage, and make a difference in the world.

To most people, slavery is something that ended in the civil war: this is how our schools teach it, but it is a dreadfully incomplete picture that puts us and our children at risk. If we as a community, as a nation, and as human beings are to end slavery, we must first know of it. Right now, realistically, we don’t; even most people who see an article or two on it have no conception of what slavery actually is, and have no idea that every day, thousands become slaves for the first time.

I am asking you to ensure that modern-day slavery becomes a part of the curriculum of our schools.

Slavery is a problem here and all around the world, and I ask you to help me fix it. Boys are forced to beg by slave-owners, men are forced to toil in fields from which they cannot escape, and young women are raped ten and twenty times a day, sold against their will by slave-owners who double as pimps. This is wrong. Americans and others have been slaves, and some are still slaves, and they should be free. We cannot be the land of the free if we do not free the slaves.

I learned of slavery from River of Innocents, a modern-day Uncle Tom’s Cabin. See http://www.riverofinnocents.com for more information, or ask me what I have learned.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]