Child Slavery Talking Points

When I wear my Child Slavery is a Solvable Problem hat, it starts a lot of conversations.

A guy at Chipotle will say, “I love your hat!”

A dude on the subway will say, “keep fighting the good fight, brotha’”

A lady at an event will say, “that’s such an important message.”

Much of the time, people are just giving kudos — it’s enough to reply, “thank you! It’s something I’m passionate about.”

But sometimes these folks want to share their story or ask questions. If you wear this hat, people will ask you too. So, I created this quick list of talking points to help you navigate the convo. These answers are similar or simplified versions of what I usually say.

Q. Where did you get your hat?

A. It’s custom printed. I wear it because this is a message I really believe in.

Q. What does it mean, “child slavery is a solvable problem?”

A. There are some problems that can’t be solved right now, like something with physics that isn’t possible. With child slavery, it’s a human made problem, and we allow it to happen — there is no reason it has to exist.

Q. Is that (child slavery) a real thing?

A. Yes, 100%. All over the world, including here in America, and it’s most prominent in South East Asia and other developing areas. A big part of it is children being exploited for dangerous labour, including sex trafficking. A kid might get raped 10 or 15 times a night.

Q. What can I do / what can we do?

A. The biggest changes need to come from government and other organizations. As individuals here, the most useful thing we can do is spread the word and contribute money. There are great charities that are doing the work, like one that employs retired police officers and military people to do surveillance – they gather evidence and then work with the local police to raid brothels and help the children.

Note: FWIW, nobody has ever asked me for a specific charity recommendation or how they can give $$. (Update: Except Nick Gray, who funded multiple nights of investigations with The Exodus Road ✊)

Q. I read a book about women being exploited…

A. That book is probably Half the Sky.

Q. That reminds me of [insert problem here, usually related to exploitation of women or human trafficking in general].

A. Absolutely, it’s very similar. Thank you for sharing that / thank you for sharing your story.

Q. Why the focus on children?

A. All human trafficking is serious problem, and of course something I’m an advocate to end. I focus on children, because they are one of the most vulnerable groups, especially in the developing world.

That’s it! I’m open to suggestions on how to make these answers better / more concise / more useful. Also, if you find you get other questions, I’d love to hear about it.

Thank you for spreading the word. I’m always super delighted about the wide variety of people that want to talk about this message ❤️