Slavery panel convenes Feb. 14

Former police officer Ron Clem moved his family to Montana to escape the negative influences of life in Los Angeles — only to have his daughter, while a freshman at Whitefish High School, be “sold” by a friend in exchange for drugs.

She subsequently was raped by the drug dealer.

The author of two books describing his family’s harrowing story and the founder of the local Teens in Crisis support group, Clem is a firsthand witness that Montana is not immune to sex trafficking, called by some the fastest-growing crime in the world.

On Sunday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. in the Glacier High School Performance Hall, Clem joins four other advocates who have international, national and local experience with this form of modern-day slavery in a panel discussion, “Slavery: Here and Now.”

Admission is free.

In addition to Clem, the panel includes attorney Kate Kerr, who has witnessed slavery in India and helps survivors in San Francisco; Linda Regnier of Lakeside, who has worked with victims in Thailand, Nepal and India; Montana Human Rights Network Director Cynthia Wolken, who helps trafficking victims in Montana and helped pass Montana’s anti-trafficking laws; and Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan.

While many of the world’s 27 million slaves are found overseas, at least 100,000 domestic minors — children born in the United States — are enslaved yearly in the criminal sex industry. Another 200,000 U.S. youths are at high risk of sexual exploitation each year.

The Kalispell discussion, organized by the Flathead Abolitionist Movement, will focus on sexual trafficking to and from Montana and the Northwest, victim identification, and preventing local children and women from becoming part of these statistics.

Human trafficking for manual labor and domestic servitude also will be discussed.

Audience members will be given an opportunity to respond and ask questions.

The Flathead Abolitionist Movement was created by local women and students to inform and educate the public about human trafficking.

This panel discussion follows the organization’s Jan. 10 showing of the film “Call + Response” that attracted more than 650 Kalispell attendees.

The panel also is sponsored by Hockaday Museum of Art, Flathead-area Soroptomist International clubs, Kalispell’s Rotary clubs and the Flathead High School International Baccalaureate Programme.