Survivor Perspectives: Interview with “Brown Sugar”

Over these next weeks leading up to July 30’s World Day Against Human Trafficking, ECPAT-USA will be amplifying the voices of our Survivors’ Council on how the color of their skin has impacted their experiences as trafficking survivors. This first interview is with “Brown Sugar,” who was trafficked in New York City for 11 years.

“Brown Sugar” is the street name that our Survivors’ Council member used while she was trafficked, and the name that she has asked to include for identification in her interview so that other survivors will recognize her and seek support. (Responses have been condensed for space.)

How have you been feeling these past two weeks since the death of George Floyd?

I’m scared, I’m nervous. We have been going through this for a long time. This has been happening to Black people for a long time. I’m aggravated, frustrated, nothing is going to change. Every time they say there will be a change, there is no change. I pray to God that there will be a change.

It’s hard for us, especially for people who have been incarcerated. When you are incarcerated, when you try to get ahead, there is always something that is going to stop us. It was so hard for me to look for a job, they always want to see my rap sheet. When we are trying to change our life, we need that support. Black people are incarcerated for the simplest things.

How did you experience the connection between race and sex trafficking?

They go hand in hand. The White girls are treated way better than us. A john will say that one of us robbed them, the police will believe him more than if he said a White girl robbed him. Most of the johns that I dealt with were White. They were rude and disrespectful.

Have you had interactions with law enforcement?

Yes, I did. When I was a trafficking victim, the police would lock me up instead of the john. The johns were White, the police always let them go. I got locked up for what we both got caught doing.

[One time when I was arrested], I lied to the officer about not having a tattoo. The police officer took me to the back office where there was no camera. He twisted the earring that was on my lip and called me a lying whore. When I said that I was going to report it to the police, he said “who do you think they are going to believe, you or us?”

When I go to a clothing store, I’m so tired of people following me around. Why are they always following us, always watching us? All of us don’t steal. All of us don’t do stuff.

What would you want law enforcement to know about victims of sex trafficking?

Not one time when I was arrested, did a cop ask if I needed help. They did not care to ask. We come from a struggle life. We need help. Some of us are addicted to drugs. That’s why we end up the way we end up. I haven’t met one girl in the street who had a good life. The majority of us had a home that we did not want to go home to. Not one day that I thought, “I want to be a prostitute.” I had a dream. I was a cheerleader. I wanted to do things with my life.

What do you want people to know?

I don’t know if I have a job, I don’t know where my next meal is coming from. I have a couple of friends who left the life, they don’t want to go back to that life. They want to do whatever they can not to go back. They have kids, they have to do what they need to do to make rent. Any human being would. Not everybody has a support system.

The government needs to find them something to do. They need to help them find jobs, don’t just look at the rap sheet. Stop judging us. We are human beings. A majority of people have a past. The question is where do you go from there? The fact that you are downgrading us is not helping. Training, therapy, we all need therapy when we leave the life. A support system to help us in the right way. A lot of us have passion, have drive.

I would open my open business, a cleaning business. Office, house, anything. That’s what I’ve been doing. We need to have jobs for women coming off the street.

I appreciate this, I’ve got a lot on my mind.

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