1 Year Anniversary of AbolitionistJB: A year in review

Yesterday, February 12th, marked the one year anniversary of AbolitionistJB. It was one year ago that my wife came across the website www.love146.org and I started researching about human trafficking. You can read more about this in, How I Started my Abolitionist Journey.

With your help and support, here is what we have accomplished in this first year.

1. Helped raise over $22,000 in funds for anti-trafficking non-profit organizations, such as Free Generation International.
   
2. Over 49,900 page views to AbolitionistJB posts.
3. Add 20,313 Twitter followers.
   
4. Add 550 Facebook likes.
5. Write 156 posts regarding human trafficking
   
6. Sign and help promote 348 petitions through Change.org. These petitions helped pass new legislation, change corporate policies and raise awareness regarding human trafficking.
7. Attend the 2010 Freedom Awards produced by Free the Slaves. This was a great event in which I was able to interview the Freedom Award winners and a number of celebrities about their efforts to combat slavery.
8. Became the Dallas Human Trafficking Examiner for the examiner.com in October 2010.
9. Began writing the book, Swan Slave, which will hopefully be available in November 2011.
   
10. Provide social media support and awareness for various NGO campaigns by Not For Sale, IJM, Love146, Free Generation, Free the Slaves, Somaly Mam, Aaron Cohen, Change.org, EcpatUSA, Mosaic, CAST, Truckers Against Trafficking, Tassa Tags and many others. These groups do so much good work, I can't say enough about them. I invite everyone to support them with whatever talents and means you have available.
    

Everyday I receive messages via Twitter, Facebook and email from people who have found this site and want to help. This gives me hope for the future. What has been accomplished through AbolitionistJB this past year is just a small drop in the bucket. As more people join the cause for freedom, WE CAN end modern slavery and the suffering of millions around the world.

THE TABLE LIFT MAGIC TRICK
Let me illustrate this with an example I like to use when public speaking. I invite you to try it sometime with a group of people.

Step 1: Take a large table and have someone lie down on their back on the table. I like to ask the audience who thinks they are the tallest, biggest, strongest man in the room. I then pick the beefiest guy and ask him to lie on the table. I tell everyone we are going to do a little magic trick. Step 2: I invite another volunteer up to the front and ask them to help me lift the table off the ground. The catch is we can each only use 1 finger to lift.

Step 3: Obviously, we won't be able to accomplish the feat. Then I invite 2, then 5, then 10+ other volunteers to surround the table and lift with just 1 finger. Amazingly, even with a 300lbs. plus guy on the table, we are always able to lift him and the table high in the air.

The man on the table represents the goal we are trying to achieve, which in this case is ending slavery. This model is very much the same model we must use as we work to combat human trafficking. We need more help. We need the talents, support and means of every willing body to end modern slavery for good. If we all work together, we can end modern slavery by 2035, just as Kevin Bales speaks about in the video below.



Again, I thank you for all of your support and action in this work. I look forward to another year and hope and pray for the success of freedom for those victimized by slavery. In closing let me share my favorite quote from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Thank You,
John Burger
AbolitionistJB





















(Sporting my new TassaTag before a flight.)