This month Free the Slaves, the United States oldest anti-slavery/abolitionist organization launched the Freedom Awards, honoring those who have struggled for freedom and won, those who fight in the name of those who have been silenced by the chains of slavery, those who never look back and face hardship as if it were only a small stone in the road…Free the Slaves honored heroes and fighters.
I had the pleasure to attend the Freedom Awards reception in DC, where I had distinct honor to sit down one on one with some of the awards recipients'. All of the recipients' are inspirational and amazing; however two in particular struck personal cords with me. Ricky Richard, who won the Harriet Tubman Reintegration Award with his organization, Friends of Orphans. One look into the eyes of Ricky and you are beyond moved and inspired by his story of bravery, courage and triumph…you are energized into action. From across the room one notices the pride and ambition of James Kofi Annan, who with his organization Challenging Heights, was awarded the Frederick Douglass Award. James smile alone is enough to incite one into action.
Both men, spent their childhoods enslaved, Ricky as a child soldier, James as a child laborer in the fishing industry, both escaped the shackles of modern slavery and neither one could turn their backs on the countless children just like them. Both Rickey and James are powerful heroes who have used their struggles to establish organizations which not only work for freedom, but work sustainably to brake the chains of slavery by addressing the root issues, especially focusing on education, which fuel the modern slave trade.
If people like the Freedom Award winners can work to give the gift of freedom to so many others, than we as an international community have no excuses, or reason, as to why we cannot each make our own dent in the fight to end slavery worldwide. What these heroes have taught us is that regardless of where you live and what you have had to overcome, you can make a lasting difference in your own community. Slavery exists in every corner of the globe; regardless of whether we walk with our eyes open or choose to keep them closed we are all affected by the effects of modern slavery.
Please go to the Freedom Awards on the Free the Slaves website, to watch the Freedom awards ceremony that was held in LA. On the site you can also learn more about all of the awards and the stories behind those heroes honored and the impact they are bringing to their communities.
Please stay tuned for upcoming in-depth interviews and articles with this years Freedom Award winners.
