Sinclair Portis
Staff Writer
Franchesca Perez
Features Editor
The Troy University Voice of Justice is hosting a Freedom Glow Run on Friday, Feb. 24, at 6:30 p.m. to promote awareness of the End It Movement.
According to its website, the End It Movement “is a coalition of the leading organizations in the world in the fight for freedom. Each of our amazing coalition partners are doing the work, on the ground, everyday, to bring awareness, prevention, rescue, and restoration.”
This organization aims to help shine a light on modern-day slavery across the globe.
“We are just looking to start the conversation,” said Chelsea Singleton, a senior social work major from Troy and president of Voice of Justice. “So if we can get one person thinking about how they can advocate for those who don’t have a voice, I’ll be happy.”
The run is taking place on The End It Movement’s annual “Shine A Light on Slavery” Day. For this reason, the Voice of Justice decided to make the run a glow run.
“We are hoping to light up the darkness that is in this world and eventually put an end to it,” said Kelsey Carnley, a junior exercise science major from Kinston and vice president of Voice of Justice.
Although slavery is considered illegal in almost every country, there are still approximately 21 million people enslaved around the globe, according to http://www.freetheslaves.net.
With approximately 78 percent of slaves in labor slavery, 22 percent in sex slavery, and 26 percent of all slaves being children, there is still much work to be done.
Although this is the first time that the Voice of Justice has hosted a freedom run, they have hosted several events in the past such as the “Shine A Light Talent Showcase” last fall.
This event provided students with an opportunity to showcase their talents to expose modern day injustices such as human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault.
According to Singleton, human trafficking is an important cause for the group because of how large it has grown and how unnoticed it is. Although human trafficking is the third largest criminal enterprise in the world, the amount of attention and time devoted to addressing the problem is discouragingly low.
“The message that we are trying to spread is that modern day slavery is real and it does exist in our world today, not just in other countries, but everywhere,” Carnley said.
“We are hoping to make people aware of issues and hopefully, in return, they will also have a passion like we do for putting an end to slavery.”
The registration fee to participate is $15. All students, faculty, and community members alike are encouraged to participate.
Registration will begin at 5:45 p.m. in front of the First Baptist Activities Center, with the run beginning promptly at 6:30 p.m.
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