This is Black History Month. No doubt when many people, especially African Americans, think of slavery, they think of the inhumane treatment and bondage forced upon millions of African Americans who were brought from Africa or were bon on Southern plantations and forced to serve white people.

That slavery was often brutal and for sure was inhumane in a country that prided itself with the idea that “all men are created equal.”

But another kind of slavery is emerging in these modern times.

According to William M. McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania when we ran his column in January, “Human trafficking in the form of sexual slavery is a real problem in our country, one that the federal government is fighting hard to dismantle. The ability of traffickers to sell their victims for sex on the internet has caused this problem to proliferate.”

The U.S, Department of Homeland Security even has a website that defines human tracking as “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.”

The website says: “Many myths and misconceptions exist. Recognizing key indicators of human trafficking is the first step in identifying victims and can help save a life.”

The website is https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking.

A workshop was scheduled to be held on the subject in Rockingham in January, but was canceled because of illness, a sign on the door said. It has been rescheduled for Feb. 28.

The announcement says: A Human Trafficking and The Impact of Social Media Workshop will be held from 12 noon-2 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in the Fellowship Hall, 410 E. Washington St. in Rockingham.

Judith Paparozzi with UNC-Pembroke will be the guest speaker. Resources and lunch will be provided free.

Contact Suzanne Maness at 910-627-1769, toll free 877-211-5995 or by email at [email protected] for more information. Deadline to register is Feb. 25. Space is limited to 40 attendees.

McSwain said there is a common misperception of what the crime is. Many people are engaging in prostitution against their will. Many people engaging in prostitution are American citizens of color, a vast portion of whom are juvenile females, recruited in their neighborhoods, in public transit stations, outside their public schools or on social media, by “Romeo pimps” posing as would-be boyfriends.

Many people engaging in prostitution were recruited drug-free, and then introduced to serious drugs by their traffickers as a means of coercion.

“Until we stop pretending that prostitution is engaged in only by consenting adults as some sort of lifestyle choice, we will be crippling ourselves in our ability to combat this problem. And more young victims will continue to suffer,” McSwain said.

To have a workshop on this subject in Rockingham is great. But does it mean there could be human trafficking in Richmond County?

Let’s hope this is a workshop to help us keep our eyes and ears open toward prevention and not one that implies the problem already is here.