Elizabeth Smart

And I remember at the time, I mean, part of me was just like frustrated and thinking, well, it's not my fault I have white skin.

It's not my fault I have blonde hair.

Like, it's just the genetics I was born with.

Like, I did not ask to be kidnapped.

I mean, I felt very defensive about it.

But that article has stayed with me for years.

And I mean, I wasn't always as involved as I am now in speaking out in advocacy and activism.

And as I became more and more involved, I started to realize that actually that's true.

I mean, I am not at all saying that what happened to me wasn't a miracle.

Like it's the biggest miracle that's ever happened in my life.

But I also feel like if all these other cases happened,

receive the same attention that my case received, we would see a lot more survivors coming home.

And especially when we talk about underserved populations, there are none more so than the Native American and Indigenous populations.

They make up such a small, small fraction

of the whole population, but you know, they make up over 40% of human trafficking victims.

I mean, that is, you want to talk about disproportionate, that is disproportionate.

It's terrible saying these kinds of things, but basically if you are born a female and you are, you know, a native American or an indigenous woman, um,

You won the crapshoot because it's not really a question of if it happens.

It's almost a question of when it happens.

And that's not right.