End It Movement | Amber Tyler, Photographer
Today, 02/23/17, is National Shine a Light on Slavery Day. Each year we snap a shot of ourselves with the red X on our hands to symbolize that we are taking a stand to help bring awareness to human trafficking/ modern day slavery. This year I decided I wanted to help spread the word by asking some of my friends to let me come photograph them in their own environments. Give it a lifestyle feel. We have these freedoms that I think we sometimes take for granted. And while we are going about our day to day tasks, there are more people having their freedoms taken away and being sold and exchange into slavery. Many don't know that human trafficking is a major problem here in the United States. What they also don't know is that it affects us on a local level as well. Right now, nearly 1 in 5 victims of slavery is a child, and 55% of victims are girls and women. An estimated 2,000,000 children world wide are currently captured as sex slaves. Cities in the U.S. are being used as entry ways for victims to be transferred to bigger metro cities, as well as other countries.
Now, I am not telling you all of this to scare you, I am telling you this because we need to be a voice for the voiceless! There are many organizations actively working to help free slaves and integrate them back into normal lives. These photos are for a non- profit organization called the End It Movement. END IT is a Coalition of the leading organizations in the world in the fight for freedom. They help support and raise awareness for these organizations that are making the rescue happen. Here are a few great organizations that I follow that you can partner with to help end slavery:
World Relief
A huge thank you to Julia of don + julia photography, Kristin with Spaceman Coffee, Brady Campbell of Brady Campbell Photography, Sharaya of Earthly Beauty Bar, and her awesome client Eric that joined in on the #EndItMovement too!
