Silence is NOT an Option
December 2025
December is dressember. This is a campaign that raises awareness and funds to combat human trafficking. Black individuals are overrepresented in human trafficking statistics, especially in sex trafficking cases. The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported in 2020 that 44% of reported trafficking victims were Black or African American, compared to 23% who were White. You can read the stories of Black survivors in this blog.
Poverty during the holidays. In 2022, Black individuals represented 13.5% of the total population, but made up a larger 20.1% of the population living in poverty, indicating an overrepresentation in poverty compared to their share of the overall population. Thus, we want to share the “The Mental Health Impact of Seasonal Poverty During the Holidays.” On this website, Phyllis Everett, founder and CEO of Saffron Trust writes, “The holiday season places immense stress and anxiety on parents who strive to provide a perfect-enough holiday for their children. The pressure to meet societal expectations often leads parents to work long hours or take on additional jobs, further straining their mental and emotional well-being.”
Transportation inequity- On December 1, 1955, police arrested Rosa Parks for violating Bus Segregation Laws in Alabama. The issue of racial discrimination against Black people in transportation still persists today, but in different ways. For example, according to “Fighting for Equity in Transportation Policy and Infrastructure,” “in 2020, dysfunctional transportation policy contributed to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in Black communities. Numerous studies confirm that low-income communities of color disproportionately lack access to reliable transportation and suffer from the pollution of roads and highways running through their communities in ways that increase the risk of contracting COVID-19.”
***Call to Action***
California Against Slavery is an organization in California that works to combat modern slavery such as human trafficking. You can seek awareness material to disseminate by going to this website. You can also support them through your purchasing power.
Learn about the San Diego Foundation’s Black Community Investment fund by going to this website. Your donations to this fund addresses systemic racism and increase racial and social equity across San Diego.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
