The Unseen: Documentary

UNSEEN A Documentary about Child Prostitution THE ISSUE: Child prostitution is a form of sexual abuse involving the commercial sexual exploitation of children, in which a child performs sexual acts in exchange for some form of payment. Human trafficking, the selling of children into prostitution is today’s slavery. It is a major global health and human rights problem, with reported victims in at least 190 countries. The total number of victims is unknown, although estimates range into the millions. In one global study, up to 33% of the victims are children. Technology has also allowed children to be prostituted over the internet, increasing the rates of child pornography and human trafficking across the globe. Child prostitutes can be any age. The children are most often between 11 and 18 years of age but some may be as young as 18 months. Child prostitutes are more common than one may think; about 2 million children are forced into the commercial sex market every year. Child prostitutes can be found around the world. They suffer through violations that no child should ever experience and if they do survive the experience they suffer physical and psychological damage for the rest of their lives. Violence and psychological manipulation are common, and the children are at increased risk of injury, sexual assault, infectious diseases, substance misuse, untreated chronic medical conditions, malnutrition, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression and other mental health disorders, homicide, and suicide. Most Americans recognize sexual exploitation in countries like Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and Ukraine. It’s terribly sad; it’s awful, but it is a problem that is far away from us, and there is some small comfort in that knowledge. Except that it’s wrong. Child prostitution is a widespread problem in the United States. “It’s here. It can be easy to think that selling sex with children is so corrupt, so depraved, that it couldn't possibly happen in my town, my neighborhood, my school. But, as we find out every time we recover a child, these victims are here and their needs are very real,” says Loren Cannon, Special Agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children cites: “between 100,000 and 300,000 underage boys and girls -- some as young as five years old -- are abused in prostitution each year in the United States.“ Pat Trueman, the former Chief child exploitation Prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, says, “The public needs to understand what that number really means.” It’s time we acknowledge America’s “dirty little secret”—take off the blinders, and make the UNSEEN visible. THE PROGRAM: UNSEEN is a one-hour documentary about child prostitution in the United States, which aims to help people address the issue in their own particular sphere of influence. Our Host, and the Co-Creator of UNSEEN, Beka Barry puts a very human face on this issue. Beka is an attractive mother of two, a professional stand-up comedian; a woman who laughs easily and often. She is also a survivor of child prostitution. Beka’s father first raped her when she was four years old; and continued the rapes nightly, as she grew. Raping children represents a hideous act of betrayal of trust and a cruel exploitation of the powerless. Selling children for sex? How can it happen? Introduction to child prostitution begins this way for many children, when very young children are sexually brutalized by a family member. As she grew, Beka’s father “sold” her to other men, as many as four or five a night. These sessions were photographed and filmed for pornographic sale. Often, he was the one filming, when not participating in the gang rapes. After these real-life nightmares, he would bring Beka, bleeding vaginally and anally, home, and tuck her into bed cooing like a doting father. These sessions happened frequently, until Beka was twelve. By then her mother and father were divorced, living apart. At the age of 16, Beka’s mother abandoned her. Left on her own, Beka did what she knew to survive. “I worked from the age of 16 to 23 because I knew no other way to live. I saw myself as my only commodity.” At the age of 23, she was recovered in a massive sting operation that took place in Seattle, the “Innocence Lost Task Force”. She credits Harry James, now-retired Seattle Police Detective, with literally saving her and her one-month old baby’s life. She keeps in touch with him to this day. Part of Beka’s narrative explains how she, as a child, perceived what was happening to her. “Until I was in the second grade, I thought all kids were going through the hell that was my life. I couldn’t understand why and how they were so happy. The second grade was when I realized it was only happening to me. I was a very angry child.” She shares some of these memories, and how they affected her in daily life. “By the fourth grade, I was a terror. I hated everyone. I attacked a boy with a snow shovel, driving it into his abdomen, trying to cut him in two. Nothing happened. I was masturbating with a pencil in the classroom. The teacher stopped me and took the pencil away. Nothing happened. I can think of dozens of ways I was crying for attention, but no one ever asked me about it; why I was so angry. Maybe that’s why I became a comedian—so people would finally have to listen to me.” Psychological trauma is a huge part of the tragedy of child prostitution. (Who can I trust? What is my value as a person?) After Beka was recovered, she underwent extensive psychological treatment, which she credits in large part for her ability to live her life without constant nightmares. “So many of us don’t survive,” she says, “We end our lives with suicide, or drugs. I’m a lucky one. I had help.” Prostitution means that the children are literally “for sale” for sex. That means that to understand the complete equation, we also must focus on the buyers—the “johns” that pay for sex acts with children. Not all are strictly pedophiles, some are sadists, and some are men who crave domination and control over a weaker prey. UNSEEN looks at how these men are being handled by the law, and by the larger society. Purchasers of children for sex encompass all racial, socio-economic and cultural statuses. Ninety-eight percent of the purveyors of child prostitution are men. Many are fathers themselves. How we deal with these offenders is one key to gaining liberation for the victims of child prostitution. UNSEEN is an expository program, featuring interviews, and on-site B-roll. An important emotional hook will be the interview with Det. Harry James, Beka’s “Hero”. He will tell how he found Beka, and what happened to her and to the children the Task Force recovered. He also will establish the story of child prostitution and its evolution from the perspective of his many years in the field. We plan to shoot in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, as those cities are particularly noted for widespread child prostitution, and have diverse populations and cultures. We will also shoot at The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the FBI, both located in Lexington, Virginia. They are especially important for their continuing collaborative work in “Operation Cross Country”. The FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) spearhead the “Operation Cross Country” initiative to recover child sex trafficking victims and to target the criminal enterprises responsible for the commercial sex trafficking of children. Across the United States, in 2017, FBI task forces recovered over 80 minors and arrested 120 traffickers. In all, 55 FBI field offices working with hundreds of local and state law enforcement partners took part in this, the 11th iteration of “Operation Cross Country”. International partners included Canada, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines. We are interviewing a broad panoply of people in a myriad of local (City, County, State) and national non-profit and government agencies who are working on the many varied legal, personal, and medical challenges of finding these children, recovering them, helping to rehabilitate them, and treat the damage done to them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The FBI’s victim specialists work with state protective service agencies and social service providers to offer the recovered children medical assistance, mental health counseling, and other support as needed. As Beka’s story unfolds, so do the personal options for viewers to fight child prostitution. We use Beka’s story, interviews, and narratives, to bring the public into a more complete understanding of the urgent challenges of preventing child prostitution in America. Viewers are offered a full menu of options for personal action. Those options include such things as “what to do if you suspect a child is involved in child prostitution”, who to call, when to call, when to act. The program also is a “must see” for “front-line” workers: teachers, medical providers, police—anyone who is involved with children--from nursery schools to high schools. UNSEEN offers resources: phone numbers, services, and checklists to keep handy. After closing credits roll, the blinders blocking awareness of child prostitution should be off. Child prostitution in the United States should be UNSEEN no more. HOST/CO-CREATOR: Our Host, and the Co-Creator of UNSEEN, Beka Barry puts a very human face on the issue of child prostitution. Beka is a survivor of child prostitution, and it’s terrible aftermath. Some of her notes encapsulate the horror: 1976: It began. Hearing my sisters scream at night. Them training me how to appear asleep when I was awake for my own safety. Not moving my eyes, my lashes. Keep my breathing slow and steady. I can hear them being hurt; see them beaten by my father. He’s their adopted father. My mother is nowhere to be found. Ever. 4,5, and 6 years old: 4:06am, time for the nightmare. He worked early. At 4:00am each day he awoke. He used the bathroom. He lit a Camel cigarette. He came to my room eventually. 4:06am. I pretend to sleep. I do as I am trained. I pretend it hasn't happened. I want to die. I stash insulin syringes in a box. I saw on a movie if I inject air into my veins I can die. I can make it stop. I am 4, 5, and 6. I try to kill myself repeatedly. Nothing works. There is no escape. 1978: my parents get divorced after my mother is faced with his beating and raping my sisters, her first-born daughters. For her to get child support, I have to visit him unsupervised every other weekend. He pulls into the driveway Fridays. My sister begins vomiting and having panic attacks. I am placed out on the porch, alone, to go to him. The Darkness begins. 7, 8, and 9 years old: Every other weekend. All weekend long, he is with me. He bathes me. He dresses me. He rapes me. He doesn't beat me, so I am grateful. I had learned already to do as I was told or suffer violence, 6'4” Marine violence. His eyes turn black when he hits me. His eyes change. I do as I am told. Sometimes his friends are there. I do what they want. If I do as I am told I don't get beaten, I don't get slapped. I can disappear in my head. I can leave and go away until after they leave. 9, 10, 11, 12 his friends are a part…so often. The filming starts. His friends get violent. I cannot avoid being hurt. So much filming. I tried to find myself online a few times. I couldn't. I couldn't flip through the pictures of the girls who had come after me. 12.5 I get my first period. My mother moves us to Vermont. I rest for several years. We never discuss it. At the age of 16, Beka’s mother abandoned her. Left on her own; she did what she knew to survive. In her notes, she writes, “my mother takes off. I lose my job in the mall. I can't feed myself. I get the chance to earn money again the only way I know how. I don't know any other way to take care of myself. This is my skill. Sex. At the age of 20 I start in Fort Lauderdale with my first escort agency. I make lots of money. I know how to do this. I am good at it; one of the best. I think people can see it on me. Like the families on the beach. They must see how dirty and damaged and vile I am. At the age of 21: I am EVA. Eva is stronger than me. Eva is cold and knows what to do. Eva is not some small town New Hampshire tomboy who loves books. Eva is sharp. Eva is seen as an asset to the agency. Eva starts managing and collecting money from the other girls. Eva gets the calls at 3:00am when something bad happens to one of them. Eva goes to their home. Eva cleans them up. Eva dresses their wounds. Eva talks them into not going to the police. At the age of 22, I open Atlanta prior to the Olympics for a group of “Organized” gentlemen. I am EVA. I forge papers and licenses. I set up shop. I hire the girls. I run the show from a luxury high rise in Buckhead. I move to Seattle. I meet my daughter's father. He has a small escort service. I show him how to grow it. We go from $400 a day to $25,000 a week net cash. I get pregnant. 20 weeks later I find out it's a girl. Everything stops. I can't have her grow up in this life like I did. My daughter is born May 1997. July 1997 I throw her father out. That night at 11pm Detective Harry James of Seattle Police Department shows up at my door. I can help him end my daughter's father’s business, or I can go to prison and have my baby taken away. I help. We talk many hours into the morning. He figures out I have been in the business too long for a 23 year old. A week later my baby and I are secretly flown out of Seattle. A few weeks later, the largest racketeering sting in Seattle's history happens. My daughter's father is at the center of it. 1998 Summer I try to get back into the business. I hate being poor, working two jobs, always not having enough to take care of her. I can't. I try a few more times. I can't do it. The crying starts and doesn't stop all night. I can't do it anymore. 1999 January. I realize I want to try standup. 10 months later I am headlining. Getting awards. Getting respect. I have never known that feeling. “I didn’t just suddenly become healthy and “well-adjusted””, Beka says. “I was in therapy for hours and hours, many times a week, for a very long time. “ She grows serious. “I was very, very lucky. I don’t want another child to live through what I did.” PRODUCER/CO-CREATOR: LANI EDENHOLM has been a TV Producer and Director for over 30 years. After a brief stint with ABC Sports, (Olympics, Calgary Stampede, Olympia, various sporting events around the country), she settled in Seattle, where she became Director of Local Production for KTCI, Cable Channel 14. She held that position for fourteen years, leaving to pursue life as an independent Producer. She has produced a number of prize-winning productions, including large, live, two hour, call-in public forums on such topics as race relations, immigration, gays in the military. She pulled out all the stops for a huge push on youth violence, producing a special 18-hour day of programming, which included local packages and short documentaries, programming from cable affiliates, like MTV, A & E, BET, CNN, and others, and interviews from nearly 50 local non-profits, all calling for volunteers and local support. The program was wildly popular, and the special day of programming was re-run 18 times. She was featured by Cablevision Magazine as “Innovator of the Year”. Police Departments from all over the USA called to request a complete set of the day-long programming, to use as training for their departments. It won a number of awards, nominated for an Emmy, it won the CableACE for Distinguished Achievement, a Telly, a PIXIE, and many others. Lani was awarded the “Your Family Matters” award by Lifetime Television for a documentary she produced on Domestic Violence. She produced the Seattle portion of HBO’s “FACES OF ADDICTION”, with a special two-hour, live program that linked five Washington State cities live by satellite, as each held a day-long event in their own city, and were uplinked live to HBO. This effort won several awards as well, including “Best of the Northwest”, an ADDY, and others. A mother of two, and a grandmother of four, Lani was compelled to come out of retirement and back to her love of producing and directing by the passion and fire of Beka Barry to share the plight of child prostitutes. “Beka is a force of nature! I admire her intelligence and her strong sense of mission to fight the nightmare of child prostitution. I’m proud to be her ally in telling her story, because I I believe so strongly in the power of TV to foster positive change. We can tell a story that draws people in, speaks to them, soul to soul. It can help people listen with their hearts; and that story, unfolding before us, can sometimes reach deep inside, and resonate. When that happens, it can move people…and change can happen. That’s magic!