My wife, brother-in-law, and I saw Sound of Freedom this evening.
It is heart wrenching, gut punching, stomach churning, and hope-instilling, all in one.
The human trafficking industry is a $150 billion a year industry. There have never been more slaves in history than there are right now, and that includes when slavery in America was legal. Many of those slaves are children and even babies as young as 6 months old, and many of those child slaves are sex slaves. Yes, including the babies.
All of this I knew already, but a few years ago, when our first born was just a few months old, I remember watching him sleep one day and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It hit home for me in such a big way. What hit me was, there are people out there who would love nothing more than to have sexual encounters with my son. That feeling only intensified when our second born came into the world.
My parents raised my sisters and me to, among other things, use our gifts to make a difference; not just to enjoy them and have fun. And with this small but growing platform I have, I want to do just that.
Any person, publication, organization, team of writers, critics, friend or family member of yours who says that Sound of Freedom is for Qanon right-wing conspiracy theorists is either confused, zombified, or just straight up liars. Do not listen to them.
Publications like Rolling defecated all over Sound of Freedom with those exact accusations when just a few years ago, it actually did a special on global human trafficking, the Tim Ballard portrayed in the movie, and the organization he founded, Operation Underground Railroad. Countless other mainstream sites castigate the movie as fanciful. As I’ve said in a previous article, once upon a time, combating sex trafficking was the non-partisan thing to do. Now all of a sudden, this multi billion dollar industry is a conspiracy?
Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R) fights to end human trafficking through undercover operations, working with law enforcement, and providing aftercare once children are rescued.
Human trafficking is real. And personally, based on the first-hand stories I’ve heard when I was in college and in my twenties, the events that happened in Sound of Freedom actually do happen. Members of the media will come out with stories from survivors saying that the movie is not true or accurate, but you will also find survivors saying that it is completely on point. Like with all things, people experience things differently than other people. Just because two people suffered the same trauma, does not mean they went through the exact same things in that trauma. Don’t let that stop you from watching the movie.
Of course, when I say go and watch the movie, it’s not for the sake of watching. My prayer is that it galvanizes you to do more. My wife and I have been donating to Operation Underground Railroad for a few years now. Before that, I was donating to the International Justice Mission. Watching this movie is making us reassess and figure out ways we can do more than just give money.
If you’re going to the movies anyway, why not take a break from the meaningless binary debates like Barbie vs. Oppenheimer, or which MCU movie is the most cringe this year. Watch something that could quite possibly shift the course of your life. Evil overwhelms this world; but the greatest evil is the cowardice and silence that follows it. Stop letting other people scare you into taking a stand for something that has actual meaning.
We live in a time where the biggest slave trade in all of human history exists. If you ever thought about what you would do during American slavery, I’ll tell you. You would do exactly what you are doing now.