3,600 kids become victims of sex trafficking in Georgia each year. The first lady is trying to stop it
ATLANTA — Georgia's first lady, Marty Kemp, raised her three daughters on her family farm with sheep and horses in the picturesque rolling hills of northeast Georgia near Athens. For most of their childhood, she was a stay-at-home mom and occasional substitute teacher, volunteering at the girls' schools and keeping the family active at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The farm, which Kemp's father purchased the day she was born, was just 70 miles from Atlanta, but the family's idyllic life was a world away from the state capital — and its growing sex trafficking trade.
It wasn't until early last year, shortly after her husband, Republican businessman Brian Kemp, was elected governor, that Kemp and her daughters found themselves at a news conference outside the city's Atlantic Station staring at 72 school buses. The 3,600 children that could fill the seats, they were told, equaled the number of children sold for sex in Georgia each year.
"The girls and I were absolutely shocked at why we had not heard about this," Kemp told USA TODAY. Since then, the first lady has made it her mission to spread the word. “It’s a hard topic to talk about," said Kemp, 53, who has a daughter in high school and two attending the University of Georgia. “It’s hard for parents to discuss it because you just don’t want to think that it’s in your community but it is, and we are going to talk about it." In the last year she's emerged as a championof the Peach State's efforts to combat human trafficking, traveling around Georgia, speaking out against the practice, listening to survivor stories and assessing the needs of communities. Her efforts recently garnered the support of Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to President Donald Trump, who traveled to Atlanta in January to attend a roundtable on the subject with her, Gov. Kemp and others. Trump also toured a Wellspring Living facility in Atlanta that provides care for sex trafficking victims.
An estimated 7,200 men pay for sex with a child in Georgia every month, state officials say. The FBI named Atlanta one of 14 U.S. cities with the highest rate of child sex trafficking. Victim advocates say traffickers target Georgia because its capital is home to the world's busiest airport, has several major interstate highways and hosts large scale events such as the Super Bowl, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. "It’s a terrible, vicious cycle," Kemp said. "I want to figure out the problem and fix it and get it out of our state.”
Toward that end, she co-chairs Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion and Education Commission Commission, launched by Gov. Kemp's office last year to thwart trafficking and deliver justice for victims. The commission includes public officials, nonprofit leaders, faith-based institutions, experts and law enforcement officials. The GRACE Commission created a training program that offers tips on how to identify sex trafficking victims. The training is being made available to 80,000 state workers and the general public. Kemp said the training isn't mandatory for state employees, but Gov. Kemp is strongly encouraging it. Kemp also is credited with expediting plans to develop a recovery center for trafficking victims in northwestGeorgia funded by federal grants. The Receiving Hope Center, which will provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims age 12 to 17, is expected to open this month.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/02/08/georgia-marty-kemp-working-stop-child-sex-human-trafficking/4589791002/