lick photo to enlarge
Nola Brantley, center, of Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth...

Four years ago, the Oakland Tribune ran a series about child prostitution in Oakland -- a heinous crime where little girls, on average 12 years old, are being sold for sex on the streets.
In the spring of 2008, we sent a team of reporters to investigate this shameful epidemic. It was our hope that the series would raise public awareness and help bring about legislation to help protect victims and punish child predators.
Yet one need only take a drive down International Boulevard to see that the sex trafficking of young girls remains a thriving business -- boldly practiced in full view. It's ironic the prostitution trade rages in an area that probably has more churches per square mile than most places. What must parishioners think on their way to worship when they pass these lost souls no older than their own granddaughters? Do they not see?
There has been a flurry of legislation in the last few years to crack down on child prostitution. But have any of these well-intentioned policies had any noticeable effect?
I contacted Nola Brantley, a tireless advocate for sexually exploited youth and young women, to get her thoughts. Brantley, a child prostitute survivor, is the co-founder of MISSSEY (Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth). She has been called the "Harriet Tubman of Oakland" because of all of the young people she has saved from sex slavery.
The Alameda County nonprofit, based in Oakland, provides support services for sexually exploited children and young women and also works to raise awareness in the community and among our elected officials. This year, MISSSEY (www.misssey.org) celebrates its fifth anniversary with a gala Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Lake Merritt Hotel.
Q What has changed in the five years since you started MISSSEY?
A There have been more policies to emerge to treat children like victims and increase penalties against those who traffic children for sex. There has also been the emergence of a lot of different programs working with this population, whereas when we started MISSSEY, we were the only ones. But what's also happened is we've seen more and more children becoming victimized. So we are still running alongside of a bus that is running very fast of children being bought and sold. The numbers continue to rise. ... We have all these new programs, (and) they are all full.
Q Why is that?
A A lot of the girls we see in Oakland are African Americans living way below the poverty line. Our society uses sex to sell everything, and the message girls get is to exchange themselves for material things. The lack of family and community makes children more likely to be preyed upon. If you take it further back, you can go back to 9/11, when we started to switch our attention and focus from domestic issues to Homeland Security. You also had laws that made penalties for selling crack cocaine higher. People began to traffic in children because it was less risky.
Q How effective are laws designed to crack down on the traffickers?
A They work when you have a cooperating witness. But imagine a child who was in foster care, then exploited by a severely vicious trafficker. They have to be able to stick through court and be cross-examined by that trafficker's attorney. ... Most children are not able to go through that.
Q AB16 and AB17, authored by Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, D-Alameda, set fines on predators convicted of pimping or trafficking in underage youth. These and proceeds from the sale of convicted traffickers' property was supposed to have been divided between law enforcement and a sexually exploited minors fund for nonprofits like MISSSEY that offer support programs. What in fact happened?
A We haven't received or heard anything about those funds. Nor have any of our partners. I thought when that legislation was passed, it wasn't specific enough about how those funds were distributed.
Q What is next on the agenda for MISSSEY?
A We are really pushing for children not to get arrested at all for prostitution, which is still happening.
Q So you disagree with some in law enforcement who say jail is the only place they can keep at-risk children safe?
A We have to create other facilities and assessment centers where we can keep them safe from criminals who are pursuing and terrorizing them. That's a poor excuse, and I'm sure if they weren't children of color, if they were upper-class, Caucasian children, they would not have that solution to just lock them up. Every child is too valuable to be bought and sold.
Tammerlin Drummond is a columnist for the Bay Area News Group. Contact her attdrummond@bayareanewsgroup.com or follow her at Twitter.com.