March 21, 2024 • 41 mins
Host Vanessa Tyler talks with human trafficking survivor LaKeisha Walker.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. This is Blackland Today, A mind blowing
interview that doesn't seem real what it is. It's like
a movie, a horror movie, and Lakeisha Walker has the
unfortunate starring role.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It really is the new age slavery. It really truly is.
Because I was sold.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I did not receive a dime of any money that
was around from me. I was humiliated, I was raped,
I was tortured like and this was like a daily thing.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
A side of human trafficking that could be right under
our noses right now on black Land and.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Now as a brown person, you just feel so invisible.
It's not where we're from. Brothers and sisters are welcome
you to this joint. From day we celeb freedom. Where
we are I know someone heard something and where we're going.
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Black Information That work presents Blackland with your host, Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Imagine this cold, dangerous, unforgiving streets and women forced to
make the money or face the abusive consequences. The women
the slaves of the sex trade, human trafficking. Lakeisha Walker
knows all about that life. You have to let her
tell her story. Miss Lakeisha Walker, Welcome to Blackland.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me here.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
We have a lot to unpack. Let's start at the beginning.
How did you become a victim of human trafficking? How
old were you and where were you? Well?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I was a statistic and that both of my parents
were addicted to drugs. My mom threw me off a
building it too and I ended up in the DCFS system,
where I continued to be molested. And by the time
I was twelve, I had already been raped by a.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Local drug dealer.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
And at sixteen I had my first abusive relationship. And
at age seventeen, I was extremely angry. I hadn't received
any love or support, and I stumbled upon a young
man who said that he could give me all of
those things. I didn't know that he was a trafficker.
(02:31):
I thought that he was just a handsome young man
walking down the street and we exchanged phone numbers and
we began talking on the phone regularly. So he kind
of loved by me and told me that I was everything.
I was amazing, And from there he began the trauma
(02:52):
by me and tell me that he had been through
some of the horrible things that I went through as
a child.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I'm still stuck on your mother threw you off the
roof at two.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Would you go.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Back to that just a little bit, Yes, how many
stories I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, my mother had tried a drug called PCP for
those who are not familiar with that substance, they use
it to put elephants to sleep, and in doing so,
she thought that she could fly, and she climbed to
the top of the roof of a three story building
(03:33):
with me in her arms, took her clothes off, and
then she jumped. So that was it was pretty much
like I came from birth.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
It was kind of like hell for me.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And obviously you were injured at that time, and so
was she.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yes, her ankle was broken off, literally like she still
has a ride in her leg to this day. And
for me, I had a ride in my arm, well
like a little ride in my arm, and just said
if I didn't have any issues as I grew that
I would be okay, in which I haven't had any
more issues since then.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
It's interesting that you consider what we're talking about, just
to bring back up to when you met this young
man in the street. You call that human trafficking because
when we think of human trafficking, we think of people
brought to this country, girls, boys too. But you say
human trafficking is more than that. It's really happening in
plain sight.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yes, this literally happened to me not far from where
I was raised, where I grew up at.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And so it literally can happen next door.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
This wasn't like a long path away from where I
grew up, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
This was pretty much down the street from where I
grew up.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And when I ended up locked in a house for
six years of my life, it wasn't that far.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And you were literally locked in a house not too
far from your own neighborhood. And I guess the warning
is because the way you say it started out so nicely.
He started, you know, really feeling your pain, going through
what you went through, so he says, as a child.
And I guess the warning for our girls who are
already in trouble, are vulnerable out there, is that how
(05:19):
nice things start, how they're there for you, even other women,
you know, Yeah, we're there for you, sister. Then they
turn and they turned ugly, and what was nice is
mean and evil.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yes, I tell people all the time, these are all
red flags. There are certain characteristics that help us identify traffickers,
and then there are characteristics that help us identify the survivors.
And which is why I start my story off by
just telling you a little bit about what life was
like before I met him, because people often ask me
(05:55):
what would make you just go with the trafficker in
the first place, Like, what would make you see a
predator and not see these red flags? They usually go
after the most vulnerable population. So when I say vulnerable,
I mean the LGBTQ plus IA communities, homeless, you know, immigrants,
(06:17):
someone that's like poverty stricken, if you're lacking anything love,
whether there's money, just anyone that's in lacking, anyone that
they feel like people won't care about if they come
up missing.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And then when did things turn?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Things took a turn within about a month after I
met him. I thought that I was his girlfriend at
this point, and he actually dared me one day to
go into a strip club, and I didn't know where
it was coming from.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I didn't know what he really was talking about.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
But he did call me beautiful, and I had never
heard him refer to me as such, and I didn't
want to say no, because I felt like if I
tell him I'm not going to do this, then he's
going to make fun of me, or he's going to
take away that sense of love that he was giving.
So I said yes, but I didn't think that he
would actually do it. I thought maybe he was just
(07:17):
talking about the end of that night. There I was
at a strip club, and so when I walked inside,
there were about there was another man at the door,
which I later found out that he was a gorilla pimp,
and then there were about if a gorilla pimp is yes,
(07:38):
So the difference between Romeo and gorilla. So the first
guy was a Romeo pimp. I just didn't know it
at that time. So a Romeo pimp pretends to be
your boyfriend. He grooms you. A lot of girls on
the streets these days call him their guy, their security.
He makes you believe that he really loves you, and
he's just less forceful. He's more so into cohersion and manipulation.
(08:03):
He will get force well if he has to, but
he mainly operates by play talk.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And then there's the gorilla pimp.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
The gorilla pump is more forceful and vicious, so there's
no really use of manipulation as much. It's pretty much like,
you know, you're I'm holding you captive, You're gonna do
what I say, or I'm gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So strip club that first time, Yes, encountered the gorilla pimp.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yes, so the gorilla pimp is at the door, but
I didn't know who he was and he was kind
of sazzing me up and looking me over. And then
there were about maybe five or six dancers, which are
like strippers, and they already had clothes and everything prepared
for me. So me being seventeen years old, I'm looking like,
(08:54):
what the heck is going on? These girls, you know,
like we're trying to convince me to go into the back. Oh,
she can be a family with us. We love her,
She's perfect. And I had a split second where I
could have ran out that door. And I deeply believe
the reason why I did this because I really didn't
(09:15):
know what was going on. Like I knew something was
like terribly wrong obviously, but I didn't know that I
was about to be sold. So I went in the
back with these young ladies. They're getting me dressed up.
The whole time, they're getting me dressed up. I'm just
telling them like I cannot do this, like I don't
even have to self esteem for this, and they're telling me, yes,
(09:36):
you can, we'll help, We'll pay for your first dance.
We've all done this before, and overnight, within a twenty
four hour timeframe.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I'm an exotic dancer.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And you say thing a few seconds ago. Sold And
of course you know we know that Verbridge in the
African American community because our ancestors were sold so literally
like a slave.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yes, it really is the new age slavery. It really
truly is. Because I was sold. I did not receive
a dime of any money that was around from me.
I was humiliated, I was raped, I was tortured like
and this was like a daily thing. There are even
times where I was not fed. You know, I would
(10:25):
have to urinate like in a bucket.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
At times.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
They do so many different things to punish you. I
was like literally in a room chained up. But before
I got there, I was this stripper with it, dealing
with this Romeo pimp. So the Romeo pimp has me
stripped for about three weeks. Okay, because that first night
(10:48):
after I completed that action of stripping and they I
tell people all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
They use that they'll try to see how far they
can get you to go.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
So once they see that you'll do something than that
they say, then they kind of press past your boundaries.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So at the end of the night, I had told
him like, hey, I did what you said.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
In fact, I've done more than what you said, So
can we just get out of here?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Can you get me out of here?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And he says, no, you need to continue to dance
so that you can make money to support our lifestyle
and support like me being with you, like I've been
giving you this love and everything, and if you don't,
then I'm going to leave.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And so I danced for about three weeks. At this point.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It was like nothing, no sex yet until one day
he brought me to the strip of and pretty much
just left me there and disappeared. And so what I
know now that I didn't know then is that I
was he had sold me to this gorilla pimp. I
came looking for him at the end of the night,
(11:56):
at the end of my shift, and I couldn't find them.
And those same girls they pret tending to be friends,
they had already turned on me. They were threatening to
cut my face and everything else, just because they said
that I was taking Like I guess, there a clientele.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So at the door was the Gorilla pimp.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And as I'm leaving out, he tells me that I
need to come and have a conversation with him immediately.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And the way he said it, it puts so much
fear in me. I just knew that I needed to.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So I go out to his car and have this conversation.
And once we get to the car, he tells me, Hey,
I'm not going to beat around a bush with you.
I'm about to sell you. You know you're gonna be
like my sex wave and if you don't, then I'll
kill you. And if you tell anybody, I'll kill them.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You've got to be kidding, she thought, But one look
into his evil eyes she knew he wasn't. So I
he felt that you just couldn't get out the car
or just not show up the next night. I mean,
where were you living? Were you living with them?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I was actually living at my grandmother's house. So since
the very beginning of this story, like with the whole
strip club thing and me stripping for about three weeks,
I went home. I was taken to my grandmother's house
and I came in like dressed, half necked and everything,
and she looked at me like she saw a ghost.
And that moment, I felt like, deep down she knew
(13:27):
something was wrong, but she didn't address it or say
anything to me, so neither did I because I didn't
even know how to start to explain how this all happened,
so I didn't say anything. So and then after the
point of the gorilla pumps involvement, I definitely didn't say
anything because then it was like so much fear that
(13:50):
I really didn't want him to kill me or my family.
But I did begin to start to get away because
he sold me immediately. He began selling me to people
at the club.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Like the owner.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
You know, the owner was saying I was so young
to be in there and there needed to be like
money paid for me to be there. So the Gorilla
Pump like forced me to have sex with the owner
in order for me to be able to be in there,
and then he was just selling me to people at
the club. So I began to try to run away,
but for me, because I was only seventeen, me running
(14:25):
away was like just running down the street to a
friend's house and he would always capture me, like on
the streets. And this was at least like five times
I had tried to run away before he ended up
really getting me. So what made him end up really
capturing me was one night I saw my friend and
at this point I had experienced like black eyes and everything.
(14:47):
I just made up excuses, you know, why it happened,
Like oh I ran into a wall, like I fell downstairs,
whatever I had to say. So I talked to my
best friend and I said, you remember when you asked
me what happened when I had like that black eye?
And she says yes, And I told her, well, I'm
being sold and I really want to get away. I
keep trying to run away and this guy keeps getting
(15:10):
me back, and I'm going to try to go like
out of town or something tonight. And she says okay,
But then two hours later the guy gets me off
the street. So what I didn't know then that I
feel like I know now is that I believe that
my best friend was somehow manipulated by the Romeo pimp
and was in communication with him because she had to
(15:31):
tell him about me, Yeah, about me trying to leave.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
There was no one who you can really trust. Yes,
we are talking with Lakeisha Walker. She's been through it,
a black woman. It is a victim of human trafficking,
and she is telling her story. So you had nobody
you can trust. How did you get away?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
This was over a course of six years. So at
this point when he captured me out the street at gunpoint,
you know, he literally drove through the grass in his
truck and put a gun to my head and made
me get in his truck. He drove me to a
big dusty house which was probably about maybe ten miles
away from where I live, but that wasn't.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
That far and this is the Chicago area.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yes it is.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And he takes me to like a big dusty house
and when I go inside, there's a room and it
was like a kitchen when you first walk in, and
then there's just a little room.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
And he takes me in a room. There's like bolted
lots going all the way down the door.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I get in the room, I see chains, a bed
and a TV with a chester it set like on
top of a Chester drawer.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
But there was nothing else in the room.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And I knew something really awful was about to happen
like I didn't know what, but I felt like maybe
he's about to kill me, but instead that was the
place that I was traffic for six years, and so
he like basically locked me up to these chains. He
(17:08):
tells me that I need to watch these movies on repeat.
And what these movies are it basically, I guess, teaches
you how to be more seductive in the world of
sex trafficking and then watching, Yes, it is absolutely so
I said I wasn't going to watch the movies, so
he says.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Well, they'll be. He'll to pay and punishments for when
you disobey.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So he left out the room and just locked everything
up and he didn't return until two days. So at
this point I was so hungry, so thirsty, I'm just
thinking I'm gonna die, and I agreed to watch the movies.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
So as up again.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Watching the movies, he started to call people to this
house to have sex with me. And that's when the
hell started for me because the people would just come,
you know, one by one. Is just so many different
people to have sex with me. And of course at
first I was like very trauma sized. I was just
crying hysterically, and he would come in the room and
(18:14):
he would beat me. You know, he would rape me.
He even started to put like a date break drug
and a drink that he would make me drink. But
I just knew it was something in it because after
I drink this, it's like I became a different person.
And so I never stopped trying to get away. Like
every person he sent in to sleep with me, I
(18:36):
refer to the the tricks, the people that buy you.
I would you know, beg them like can you please
help me? And some of them did try to help me.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
How did they try to help you? Did they call
the police?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
They didn't call the police.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And to this day, I don't know why nobody called
the police because my story is so deep. Even my
friend end up come into this house and I'll tell
you about that in the moment. But these tricks didn't
call the police. They felt that they were man enough
or strong enough to protect me. They felt like they
could just make him move from the door and they
(19:13):
can get me out of there.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
And that's not what happened.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Like once they got to the door and you know,
told the pemp to let them out the door, he
ended up pulling a gun on them from them just
telling them like I'm about to get her out and
this and that, and he threatened to kill them. So
many of those people ran off. And I tried at
least three times with tricks. I didn't want to try
(19:36):
too much because those were also times that I was
beaten bad.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
They were there taking advantage of you themselves exactly, but
they were almost as guilty equally as guilty. Yes, and
these were white men, black men. Who were these people
that would come into this abandoned looking house on the
outskirts of Chicago.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Are different types of people. Some of them were business
We had couples. I mean, there are people that know
that this exists, and it's like a hidden enemy or
a silence enemy because they don't want to do anything
about it because they still look at it as fun,
Like they don't consider what people like me go through
(20:23):
in the process.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Because there were people, I mean, they've seen me changed,
you know.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
He would bring people there to mock me and everything,
and there were people that would laugh at me. There
were people that get off from like violating me. I
call it BDSM And for those who don't know, let
me educate you. BDSM is basically where people get off
from like.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Inflicting pain during sex. So these people that a chain
like around your ankle or No, there.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Was a chain around my arm, but I would try
to yank that chain and it was basically just connected
to the bed. There was no windows in his room.
I would be trying to get away in every way
I could, but I learned very quickly that it was
really no point in doing so because he always would
(21:18):
like come and hurt me.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Even if he hurt me like trying to move it
or do anything.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
So this happened for six years. You didn't have any
daylight that I assume you had access to a shower
in the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
No, not only when he wanted me to.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
And that's what I'm saying about, like the whole peing
in the bucket, and I barely ever, it was just
like when he wanted me to. I pretty much live
worse than your average pet. I treat my pet better
than this man treated me so. And you would think
that people wouldn't want to go behind other people and
(21:59):
just continue to.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Sleep with me, but they did.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You mentioned your mother was still still alive. I'll ask
you after this, how did you ultimately get away? But
do you have any conversations with her to this.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Day, Yes, I do.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I'm so proud of my mom because she's off drugs
now wow. And we finally built a relationship in twenty
fourteen when my grandmother passed away, and my grandmother raised me,
and she supports me one thousand percent of what I'm
doing because, like you don't notice it. But at the
(22:34):
end of my story, I was forced to be silent
because my grandmother, you know, had like a little mini
family meeting with me and my mom, and she just
thought it'd be better if I don't say anything because
it was too too traumatizing for them to hear the details.
And then she felt that it was too embarrassing for
me to share like with the world pretty much. And
(22:56):
as a result, I had tried to commit suicide three times.
So my mom supports like my freedom. Like I couldn't
speak for years. I worked whole jobs where I didn't
say a word, and people jokingly said, it's something wrong
with her. So it's just so important to get this
awareness out, not just for the survivor, but also for
(23:20):
the survivor who's out and just how hard it is
to get back to like a normal way of living
after trafficking?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
How did you get away well after? Okay? So I
was summing up as quickly as I can. I mean,
I had a friend who ended.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Up coming to this house, and the pimp, being the
narcissist that he was, he would bring people to market.
So I guess he was dating her and I heard
her voice outside of Rome. Her name is Charmaine, and
as soon as he opened the door and let her
come in, she began to cry, and basically, to make
(23:58):
a long story short, she says, I'm going to get
you out of here. So she literally spent the night
with us like he treated me like twenty times worse
just because she was there with us. And she had
called up some guys I guess at a party and
arrange a party. And she says, I've arranged something, and
next thing I know, the pimp is coming Rome, telling
(24:19):
me that we're about to go to a party. And
at this point I hadn't been allowed to leave the
house in two years, so I'm like, what's going on?
But he did agree to take me to this party. So,
to make a long story short, he changed me now
to him forces me to carry a cup with his
name on it, and that was just to embarrass me
(24:39):
and humiliate me. Takes me and my friends to this
party twenty minutes and to the party, they are about
eight guys that stand up with guns and they're pointing
it on a pimp and tells him to let me go.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Was this it her chance to get away from years
of abuse with the gorilla pimp allow his cash cow
to just walk?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
He says, I'll let her go, but then he puts
a gun to my temple and says that we're going
to play a game of Russian roulette. So he begins
to literally click this gun, and he's telling me that
there's one bullet in it.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
So I was so scared that I just went back
with him.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
And everybody was screaming like, no, you don't have to
like you know what I felt that I did, So
I go back with him.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And now I'll skip to the end.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
So there are several things that happened like after that,
But the end of the story when I finally got
away is I was sitting there and I was suicidal,
and I remember being between life and death literally where
I was thinking, either he's going to die or I'm
going to die.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
But I cannot do this another second.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
And he entered the room, and this is at the
sixth year mark, and he says, I trust you now,
I'm about to throw you on the stroll downtown Chicago.
And I said okay, because at this point I'm just
really like, I really feel like if I hadn't got
for me, I don't know what I would have done,
(26:06):
because I just was like in a crazy place mentally.
So he takes me out. He takes me downtown Chicago,
like dressed me up and I had on like lingerie
and some six inch like clear heels, puts me out
the car and tells me that I better make his money.
If I don't, then he's gonna kill me. And so
(26:26):
as soon as I seen him like turn the corner,
I just ran as fast as I could, and I
was like flagging down as many people as I could.
And as I flagged these people down, I realized that
I was right smack in the midst of a place
that was known for prostitution. They call it the Vagina
of downtown Chicago. It turns into I guess where they
(26:49):
sell prostitutes at night? So I'm running to different tricks.
They don't want to help me. I end up running
to a pimp. I didn't know that it was a
pemp until he without a huge butcher knife and he
tells me that he's gonna give me for reckless eyeball,
in which means I had learned from those brainwashing movies
(27:09):
the reckless eyeball. It means you can't look them in
the eyes, or they can take you to make you
become their slave, or they can take all your money
if you made money, or they can kill you and
your pump.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
So it's really this is like just one big game
to them, like one big sick game. It's a horror movie,
it is.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
So I'm running from him and he has this huge
busher knife that he's chasing me with, and as I'm running,
I'm screaming out as loud as I can, like help help.
So then I run into another man in a car
full of women and he says, I'll help you and
call me out of my name, and I knew, like,
oh yeah, he must be like another one of them,
(27:49):
And because I wouldn't go to him after I've seen
that he was another pemp, he pulls out a gun
and starts shooting, so all this is downtown Chicago where
they and it's so wonderful. So I'm running and as
I'm running this time, because I'm running so fast, my
foot gets cut from my shoe, like my heel broke
off and it so now I have blood coming down
(28:11):
my foot. So I'm running and or barely running, and
then I run into another man and it was a
white man in a black SUV. So I'm thinking like, oh,
he's probably gonna help me. So he tells me to
hop in. I tell him, like, drive as fast as
you can. I have so many people after me trying
to kill me. I've been trapped for six years. And
(28:32):
he tells me go to the corner and meet me
in three minutes. I knew something was off, but I
still went to the corner because I felt like this
is the only chance I have. And once I got
to that corner, the next thing I know, I'm hearing
sirens from everywhere. So I didn't know this then, but
I know now that he was an undercover cop and
he was trying to help me. But I didn't know
(28:53):
that because I wasn't familiar with like any of this.
So I'm just thinking, like they're about to arrest me.
So I started hiding and ducking and dining like you know,
a little alleys and everything because they were after me.
And then I went back to my roots. And I
had grew up in like church and stuff with my grandmother,
so didn't really have strength to pray too much, but
(29:15):
I just said, like, Lord covered me. So I seen
this guy with a huge gud tattooed. They said, God,
it was like so big. I could see it from
you know, across the way, and so I went to him.
He was out there with like other guys and they
were just like drinking and listening to music. And I
quickly told him that it was people after me and
can he please give me away? So he agreed. They
(29:37):
put me in a car and they had like some
covers that they put over my head, and he like,
as he began to drive, there was literally police shining
the light through the window, but they just didn't see me.
So he drove me far away to some type of
convention and it was about two hours away from where
we were. And once we got there, you know, they
(29:59):
had listened tell my story in the car. They act
like they were going to support me. He tells me,
you know, go into the room because it was like
this huge really I guess ritzy like hotel. And he
tells me to go into the room and get myself
cleaned up, and I do that.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
So this would be the time. Can these white men
in the hotel finally help her.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Once I come out of the bathroom, they're standing there
just looking at me like they're about to hurt me.
So I knew something was up. So I begged the guy, like, hey,
if I let you have me, can you make them
leave me alone? And also I need to make one
phone call and he agreed. So I literally had to
have sex one last time before I could even get free.
(30:42):
And it was horrible because I thought that this person
was really trying to help me.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
But so after I had had sex.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
With him, he allowed me to make one phone call
and I chose to call my childhood pastor. I don't
know why I trusted. I just trusted my pastor. I
didn't trust, you know, anybody else. So I called her
at four o'clock in the morning and she actually answered,
and I was just screaming and crying in the phone
(31:10):
and she's like, wait a minute, calm down. So he
snatches the phone out of my hand, and now he's
asking her for ransom in exchange for my life. And
he really wasn't trying to like bring me to her
or let her come get me. And they basically were
almost liking a debate like back and forth, and he
(31:31):
I guess he feared her calling the police or bringing
the police, so he ended up bringing me to the church.
At this point, It's about eight o'clock in the morning,
and I literally fell on the steps and my leader
had like a crew of women to like you know,
with like combs and brushes and towels and just everything
(31:52):
kind of nurse me back to health.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
And that's that was how I got free.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Wow, you go through a lotally to tell this story.
I mean, I can just feel what you've gone through.
It's like the constant up and down, up and down.
But no matter how painful the story is, you feel
compelled to tell it.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Why Yes, I have to.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
I feel like all of this would mean nothing if
I didn't, and I noted it as my life's purpose
as a result of everything I went through, like constantly
I would see on the news how girls just like me,
boys men even were being like captured and snatched into
(32:39):
human trafficking or lay of trafficking, and I would cry,
and I would be up all night kind of fighting
with myself on whether or not I wanted to come
forward to help somebody else. And finally I came I
had got into that place. And this is after years
of like counseling. You know, I have a trauma therapist
to this day.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
How do you heal from such abuse? Well?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
I have my faith definitely, Spirituality definitely plays a role,
and also just support from like you know, therapists and
my mom.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
You know, my leader is very very helpful. And I did.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I reached back and I started a nonprofit organization to
help survivors with rap ground services and also with the
aftermath of what happens, like to kind of help them
like restart their lives after because I know how hard
it is.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
First he the organization Honorable Women. Yes, what should we
look for if we see a young girl or a
young man. How do we know if they're in trouble,
if they're a victim of trafficking? And more importantly, what
should we do? I know there's a danger of just
(33:57):
approaching somebody and saying, you know, are you okay? Or
how do we know when what should we do?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Okay, well, first things first, I want everyone listening and
go on Amazon and purchase my book Brilliant Minds, Human.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Sex, Traffic and Workbook. It was a workbook that I
created to help with to be able to tell like
things like this. So the first thing is that we
must learn these characteristics. It's super important. You know, these
traffickers are not.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Walking around at church suits or however they show them
on TV like they can look like you and I.
They can look like anyone, but all of them have
these characteristics. So I tell people that they're narcissistic in
that they use a lot of cohersion and manipulation mind control,
(34:50):
also a lot of abuse, but they start off by
using like that manipulation of mind control and then as
far as the savirus things for even before the person
is even lured. So we can say some things to
look for, and a teenager even would be if there's
(35:11):
any loopholes. You know, I'm all through Chicago teaching es
like doing seminars to help people identify like the signs
and everything. And one of the things that I've heard
a parent say is, well, I'm a good parent you know,
my child doesn't feel a lack of love. And I
asked her, well, do you work a lot? And she says, yes,
(35:32):
I work a lot. I'm barely ever her home. Well,
then your child can absolutely be victimized, because if there's
a loophole where a child feels a lack of love
or understanding, a validation, any of these different things, then
they can be a target.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Predators know who to target. The powerless human trafficking with
an estimated twenty seven million victims worldwide. Some of the
victims work for nothing in legitimate business too, not just
the sex trade, but as free forced human labor. Stats
from the State Department show victims working in agriculture, janitorial services, construction, restaurants, factories,
(36:14):
massage parlors, salons, fairs, and carnivals. For Lakeisha, it was
the oldest profession prostitution. Did we see an adult or
some young girl whatever or young boy with an adult male,
How do we know they're being trafficked? I mean, is
there a sign that we can see with the victim
(36:36):
that can say crying out for help that they're in trouble.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Well, I'm not talking about this a little more in
my book but they're one of the sizes temant. Like
I told you, I could not speak and people didn't
know why I didn't say much, So they would either
be temant or extremely bold, and they may be like.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Very angry.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
So let's say that you offer to help and it's
like get away from me. You know, that's something to
look into because the reason why they could possibly be
angry and defensive is because they have a trafficker that's
nearby and they don't want to get killed or they
don't want to get you killed as a result. So
(37:19):
it could be very dangerous to try to help a
human trafficking survivor. But you can help them. The first
thing that you need to do is never be alone
with them because as I told you, it could be
very dangerous these traffickers who not care about taking your
life or the survivor's life. So if you suspect it
(37:41):
at all, you need to call a local police and
then call the Human Trafficking Hotland. And the reason why
I tell people to do this in disorder is because
the local police can get to you faster than the
Human Trafficking Hotline is like a national system, so they
can get to you and they can't send for out.
But I always tell people contact both, and then you
(38:02):
want to contact an organization like ours were another one
that specialized in human trafficking survivors, because that person is
gonna need a lot of support and a lot of help,
a lot of resources.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Now, what's your life like today? I understand your mom, yourself.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
How do you talk to your daughter?
Speaker 1 (38:23):
How do you do you fear that something like this
could happen to her.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
I wouldn't say that I fear it, but I definitely
teach her to be cautious. I'm always talking to her
about human trafficking. I even start young, like I have
an eight year old son as well, and even though
he's eight, I tell people that there is a way
to talk to little ones about trafficking. I wrote a
children's book called Bubble Spoke Up. And that's just a
(38:50):
book that warns about how to respond when you feel uncomfortable.
So as they're younger, I was just speak to them
about predatory behavior. And as they get older, then you
can have that conversation. So I will say about twelve
years old and up, it would be more of like
the full human trafficking conversation.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And I just tell her.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
I don't want her to be afraid, but I want
her to know that it is out here and it's
still out here, and that she needs to be cautious
and mindful. And there are certain apps as well that
I you know, educate communities on using, Like one of
them is the noon Light app that I highly recommend
you want to get an app that can help with
(39:33):
just you being able to quickly contact the local police.
Let's say this, you're not able to do anything else,
Like they have apps where you at the touch of
a button. I know with the noon Light app, you're
able to get in contact with the police and they
can actually come to where you are. So even if
the person takes your phone at that point, or if
something happens, the police still can locate you and come
(39:56):
to where you are to try to rescue you out
of that situation. And so just being extremely prepared and
aware is the main thing. People need to have these
conversations and not be afraid to have these conversations, especially
with the youth.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
And you send the noon Light app neverye yes.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, it's called the noon Light App. Again, your organization
is honorable. Women.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
How can listeners connect with you and get your books
and learn everything that you're doing.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
My books are any of my writing materials on Amazon,
So if you look up Lakeisha Walker on Amazon, all
of everything that I've written pops up. And then also
on Instagram, Facebook, you can look me up as Honorable
Women Inc. So it's Honorable Women Inc. On Instagram, Honorable
Women Inc. On Facebook. And then I also have TikTok,
(40:57):
a TikTok platform where I can send your spread awareness. Yes,
and that name is Lakeisha Walker. Seven seven seven, Lakisha Walker.
Thank you for your story, Thank you for your courage,
Thank you for your commitment to save as many as
you can from being victims of human trafficking. Thank you
(41:17):
so much. I appreciate you for opening up your platform
and allowing me to speak.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
It means the world to me.
I'm Vanessa Tyler. This is Blackland Today, A mind blowing
interview that doesn't seem real what it is. It's like
a movie, a horror movie, and Lakeisha Walker has the
unfortunate starring role.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It really is the new age slavery. It really truly is.
Because I was sold.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I did not receive a dime of any money that
was around from me. I was humiliated, I was raped,
I was tortured like and this was like a daily thing.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
A side of human trafficking that could be right under
our noses right now on black Land and.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Now as a brown person, you just feel so invisible.
It's not where we're from. Brothers and sisters are welcome
you to this joint. From day we celeb freedom. Where
we are I know someone heard something and where we're going.
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Black Information That work presents Blackland with your host, Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Imagine this cold, dangerous, unforgiving streets and women forced to
make the money or face the abusive consequences. The women
the slaves of the sex trade, human trafficking. Lakeisha Walker
knows all about that life. You have to let her
tell her story. Miss Lakeisha Walker, Welcome to Blackland.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me here.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
We have a lot to unpack. Let's start at the beginning.
How did you become a victim of human trafficking? How
old were you and where were you? Well?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I was a statistic and that both of my parents
were addicted to drugs. My mom threw me off a
building it too and I ended up in the DCFS system,
where I continued to be molested. And by the time
I was twelve, I had already been raped by a.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Local drug dealer.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
And at sixteen I had my first abusive relationship. And
at age seventeen, I was extremely angry. I hadn't received
any love or support, and I stumbled upon a young
man who said that he could give me all of
those things. I didn't know that he was a trafficker.
(02:31):
I thought that he was just a handsome young man
walking down the street and we exchanged phone numbers and
we began talking on the phone regularly. So he kind
of loved by me and told me that I was everything.
I was amazing, And from there he began the trauma
(02:52):
by me and tell me that he had been through
some of the horrible things that I went through as
a child.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I'm still stuck on your mother threw you off the
roof at two.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Would you go.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Back to that just a little bit, Yes, how many
stories I mean?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, my mother had tried a drug called PCP for
those who are not familiar with that substance, they use
it to put elephants to sleep, and in doing so,
she thought that she could fly, and she climbed to
the top of the roof of a three story building
(03:33):
with me in her arms, took her clothes off, and
then she jumped. So that was it was pretty much
like I came from birth.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
It was kind of like hell for me.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And obviously you were injured at that time, and so
was she.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yes, her ankle was broken off, literally like she still
has a ride in her leg to this day. And
for me, I had a ride in my arm, well
like a little ride in my arm, and just said
if I didn't have any issues as I grew that
I would be okay, in which I haven't had any
more issues since then.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
It's interesting that you consider what we're talking about, just
to bring back up to when you met this young
man in the street. You call that human trafficking because
when we think of human trafficking, we think of people
brought to this country, girls, boys too. But you say
human trafficking is more than that. It's really happening in
plain sight.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yes, this literally happened to me not far from where
I was raised, where I grew up at.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And so it literally can happen next door.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
This wasn't like a long path away from where I
grew up, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
This was pretty much down the street from where I
grew up.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And when I ended up locked in a house for
six years of my life, it wasn't that far.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
And you were literally locked in a house not too
far from your own neighborhood. And I guess the warning
is because the way you say it started out so nicely.
He started, you know, really feeling your pain, going through
what you went through, so he says, as a child.
And I guess the warning for our girls who are
already in trouble, are vulnerable out there, is that how
(05:19):
nice things start, how they're there for you, even other women,
you know, Yeah, we're there for you, sister. Then they
turn and they turned ugly, and what was nice is
mean and evil.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yes, I tell people all the time, these are all
red flags. There are certain characteristics that help us identify traffickers,
and then there are characteristics that help us identify the survivors.
And which is why I start my story off by
just telling you a little bit about what life was
like before I met him, because people often ask me
(05:55):
what would make you just go with the trafficker in
the first place, Like, what would make you see a
predator and not see these red flags? They usually go
after the most vulnerable population. So when I say vulnerable,
I mean the LGBTQ plus IA communities, homeless, you know, immigrants,
(06:17):
someone that's like poverty stricken, if you're lacking anything love,
whether there's money, just anyone that's in lacking, anyone that
they feel like people won't care about if they come
up missing.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And then when did things turn?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Things took a turn within about a month after I
met him. I thought that I was his girlfriend at
this point, and he actually dared me one day to
go into a strip club, and I didn't know where
it was coming from.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I didn't know what he really was talking about.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
But he did call me beautiful, and I had never
heard him refer to me as such, and I didn't
want to say no, because I felt like if I
tell him I'm not going to do this, then he's
going to make fun of me, or he's going to
take away that sense of love that he was giving.
So I said yes, but I didn't think that he
would actually do it. I thought maybe he was just
(07:17):
talking about the end of that night. There I was
at a strip club, and so when I walked inside,
there were about there was another man at the door,
which I later found out that he was a gorilla pimp,
and then there were about if a gorilla pimp is yes,
(07:38):
So the difference between Romeo and gorilla. So the first
guy was a Romeo pimp. I just didn't know it
at that time. So a Romeo pimp pretends to be
your boyfriend. He grooms you. A lot of girls on
the streets these days call him their guy, their security.
He makes you believe that he really loves you, and
he's just less forceful. He's more so into cohersion and manipulation.
(08:03):
He will get force well if he has to, but
he mainly operates by play talk.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And then there's the gorilla pimp.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
The gorilla pump is more forceful and vicious, so there's
no really use of manipulation as much. It's pretty much like,
you know, you're I'm holding you captive, You're gonna do
what I say, or I'm gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So strip club that first time, Yes, encountered the gorilla pimp.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yes, so the gorilla pimp is at the door, but
I didn't know who he was and he was kind
of sazzing me up and looking me over. And then
there were about maybe five or six dancers, which are
like strippers, and they already had clothes and everything prepared
for me. So me being seventeen years old, I'm looking like,
(08:54):
what the heck is going on? These girls, you know,
like we're trying to convince me to go into the back. Oh,
she can be a family with us. We love her,
She's perfect. And I had a split second where I
could have ran out that door. And I deeply believe
the reason why I did this because I really didn't
(09:15):
know what was going on. Like I knew something was
like terribly wrong obviously, but I didn't know that I
was about to be sold. So I went in the
back with these young ladies. They're getting me dressed up.
The whole time, they're getting me dressed up. I'm just
telling them like I cannot do this, like I don't
even have to self esteem for this, and they're telling me, yes,
(09:36):
you can, we'll help, We'll pay for your first dance.
We've all done this before, and overnight, within a twenty
four hour timeframe.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I'm an exotic dancer.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And you say thing a few seconds ago. Sold And
of course you know we know that Verbridge in the
African American community because our ancestors were sold so literally
like a slave.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yes, it really is the new age slavery. It really
truly is. Because I was sold. I did not receive
a dime of any money that was around from me.
I was humiliated, I was raped, I was tortured like
and this was like a daily thing. There are even
times where I was not fed. You know, I would
(10:25):
have to urinate like in a bucket.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
At times.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
They do so many different things to punish you. I
was like literally in a room chained up. But before
I got there, I was this stripper with it, dealing
with this Romeo pimp. So the Romeo pimp has me
stripped for about three weeks. Okay, because that first night
(10:48):
after I completed that action of stripping and they I
tell people all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
They use that they'll try to see how far they
can get you to go.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
So once they see that you'll do something than that
they say, then they kind of press past your boundaries.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So at the end of the night, I had told
him like, hey, I did what you said.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
In fact, I've done more than what you said, So
can we just get out of here?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Can you get me out of here?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
And he says, no, you need to continue to dance
so that you can make money to support our lifestyle
and support like me being with you, like I've been
giving you this love and everything, and if you don't,
then I'm going to leave.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
And so I danced for about three weeks. At this point.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It was like nothing, no sex yet until one day
he brought me to the strip of and pretty much
just left me there and disappeared. And so what I
know now that I didn't know then is that I
was he had sold me to this gorilla pimp. I
came looking for him at the end of the night,
(11:56):
at the end of my shift, and I couldn't find them.
And those same girls they pret tending to be friends,
they had already turned on me. They were threatening to
cut my face and everything else, just because they said
that I was taking Like I guess, there a clientele.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So at the door was the Gorilla pimp.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And as I'm leaving out, he tells me that I
need to come and have a conversation with him immediately.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And the way he said it, it puts so much
fear in me. I just knew that I needed to.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
So I go out to his car and have this conversation.
And once we get to the car, he tells me, Hey,
I'm not going to beat around a bush with you.
I'm about to sell you. You know you're gonna be
like my sex wave and if you don't, then I'll
kill you. And if you tell anybody, I'll kill them.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You've got to be kidding, she thought, But one look
into his evil eyes she knew he wasn't. So I
he felt that you just couldn't get out the car
or just not show up the next night. I mean,
where were you living? Were you living with them?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I was actually living at my grandmother's house. So since
the very beginning of this story, like with the whole
strip club thing and me stripping for about three weeks,
I went home. I was taken to my grandmother's house
and I came in like dressed, half necked and everything,
and she looked at me like she saw a ghost.
And that moment, I felt like, deep down she knew
(13:27):
something was wrong, but she didn't address it or say
anything to me, so neither did I because I didn't
even know how to start to explain how this all happened,
so I didn't say anything. So and then after the
point of the gorilla pumps involvement, I definitely didn't say
anything because then it was like so much fear that
(13:50):
I really didn't want him to kill me or my family.
But I did begin to start to get away because
he sold me immediately. He began selling me to people
at the club.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Like the owner.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
You know, the owner was saying I was so young
to be in there and there needed to be like
money paid for me to be there. So the Gorilla
Pump like forced me to have sex with the owner
in order for me to be able to be in there,
and then he was just selling me to people at
the club. So I began to try to run away,
but for me, because I was only seventeen, me running
(14:25):
away was like just running down the street to a
friend's house and he would always capture me, like on
the streets. And this was at least like five times
I had tried to run away before he ended up
really getting me. So what made him end up really
capturing me was one night I saw my friend and
at this point I had experienced like black eyes and everything.
(14:47):
I just made up excuses, you know, why it happened,
Like oh I ran into a wall, like I fell downstairs,
whatever I had to say. So I talked to my
best friend and I said, you remember when you asked
me what happened when I had like that black eye?
And she says yes, And I told her, well, I'm
being sold and I really want to get away. I
keep trying to run away and this guy keeps getting
(15:10):
me back, and I'm going to try to go like
out of town or something tonight. And she says okay,
But then two hours later the guy gets me off
the street. So what I didn't know then that I
feel like I know now is that I believe that
my best friend was somehow manipulated by the Romeo pimp
and was in communication with him because she had to
(15:31):
tell him about me, Yeah, about me trying to leave.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
There was no one who you can really trust. Yes,
we are talking with Lakeisha Walker. She's been through it,
a black woman. It is a victim of human trafficking,
and she is telling her story. So you had nobody
you can trust. How did you get away?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
This was over a course of six years. So at
this point when he captured me out the street at gunpoint,
you know, he literally drove through the grass in his
truck and put a gun to my head and made
me get in his truck. He drove me to a
big dusty house which was probably about maybe ten miles
away from where I live, but that wasn't.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
That far and this is the Chicago area.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yes it is.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And he takes me to like a big dusty house
and when I go inside, there's a room and it
was like a kitchen when you first walk in, and
then there's just a little room.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
And he takes me in a room. There's like bolted
lots going all the way down the door.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I get in the room, I see chains, a bed
and a TV with a chester it set like on
top of a Chester drawer.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
But there was nothing else in the room.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And I knew something really awful was about to happen
like I didn't know what, but I felt like maybe
he's about to kill me, but instead that was the
place that I was traffic for six years, and so
he like basically locked me up to these chains. He
(17:08):
tells me that I need to watch these movies on repeat.
And what these movies are it basically, I guess, teaches
you how to be more seductive in the world of
sex trafficking and then watching, Yes, it is absolutely so
I said I wasn't going to watch the movies, so
he says.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Well, they'll be. He'll to pay and punishments for when
you disobey.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So he left out the room and just locked everything
up and he didn't return until two days. So at
this point I was so hungry, so thirsty, I'm just
thinking I'm gonna die, and I agreed to watch the movies.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
So as up again.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Watching the movies, he started to call people to this
house to have sex with me. And that's when the
hell started for me because the people would just come,
you know, one by one. Is just so many different
people to have sex with me. And of course at
first I was like very trauma sized. I was just
crying hysterically, and he would come in the room and
(18:14):
he would beat me. You know, he would rape me.
He even started to put like a date break drug
and a drink that he would make me drink. But
I just knew it was something in it because after
I drink this, it's like I became a different person.
And so I never stopped trying to get away. Like
every person he sent in to sleep with me, I
(18:36):
refer to the the tricks, the people that buy you.
I would you know, beg them like can you please
help me? And some of them did try to help me.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
How did they try to help you? Did they call
the police?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
They didn't call the police.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And to this day, I don't know why nobody called
the police because my story is so deep. Even my
friend end up come into this house and I'll tell
you about that in the moment. But these tricks didn't
call the police. They felt that they were man enough
or strong enough to protect me. They felt like they
could just make him move from the door and they
(19:13):
can get me out of there.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
And that's not what happened.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Like once they got to the door and you know,
told the pemp to let them out the door, he
ended up pulling a gun on them from them just
telling them like I'm about to get her out and
this and that, and he threatened to kill them. So
many of those people ran off. And I tried at
least three times with tricks. I didn't want to try
(19:36):
too much because those were also times that I was
beaten bad.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
They were there taking advantage of you themselves exactly, but
they were almost as guilty equally as guilty. Yes, and
these were white men, black men. Who were these people
that would come into this abandoned looking house on the
outskirts of Chicago.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Are different types of people. Some of them were business
We had couples. I mean, there are people that know
that this exists, and it's like a hidden enemy or
a silence enemy because they don't want to do anything
about it because they still look at it as fun,
Like they don't consider what people like me go through
(20:23):
in the process.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Because there were people, I mean, they've seen me changed,
you know.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
He would bring people there to mock me and everything,
and there were people that would laugh at me. There
were people that get off from like violating me. I
call it BDSM And for those who don't know, let
me educate you. BDSM is basically where people get off
from like.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Inflicting pain during sex. So these people that a chain
like around your ankle or No, there.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Was a chain around my arm, but I would try
to yank that chain and it was basically just connected
to the bed. There was no windows in his room.
I would be trying to get away in every way
I could, but I learned very quickly that it was
really no point in doing so because he always would
(21:18):
like come and hurt me.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Even if he hurt me like trying to move it
or do anything.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
So this happened for six years. You didn't have any
daylight that I assume you had access to a shower
in the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
No, not only when he wanted me to.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
And that's what I'm saying about, like the whole peing
in the bucket, and I barely ever, it was just
like when he wanted me to. I pretty much live
worse than your average pet. I treat my pet better
than this man treated me so. And you would think
that people wouldn't want to go behind other people and
(21:59):
just continue to.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Sleep with me, but they did.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You mentioned your mother was still still alive. I'll ask
you after this, how did you ultimately get away? But
do you have any conversations with her to this.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Day, Yes, I do.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I'm so proud of my mom because she's off drugs
now wow. And we finally built a relationship in twenty
fourteen when my grandmother passed away, and my grandmother raised me,
and she supports me one thousand percent of what I'm
doing because, like you don't notice it. But at the
(22:34):
end of my story, I was forced to be silent
because my grandmother, you know, had like a little mini
family meeting with me and my mom, and she just
thought it'd be better if I don't say anything because
it was too too traumatizing for them to hear the details.
And then she felt that it was too embarrassing for
me to share like with the world pretty much. And
(22:56):
as a result, I had tried to commit suicide three times.
So my mom supports like my freedom. Like I couldn't
speak for years. I worked whole jobs where I didn't
say a word, and people jokingly said, it's something wrong
with her. So it's just so important to get this
awareness out, not just for the survivor, but also for
(23:20):
the survivor who's out and just how hard it is
to get back to like a normal way of living
after trafficking?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
How did you get away well after? Okay? So I
was summing up as quickly as I can. I mean,
I had a friend who ended.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Up coming to this house, and the pimp, being the
narcissist that he was, he would bring people to market.
So I guess he was dating her and I heard
her voice outside of Rome. Her name is Charmaine, and
as soon as he opened the door and let her
come in, she began to cry, and basically, to make
(23:58):
a long story short, she says, I'm going to get
you out of here. So she literally spent the night
with us like he treated me like twenty times worse
just because she was there with us. And she had
called up some guys I guess at a party and
arrange a party. And she says, I've arranged something, and
next thing I know, the pimp is coming Rome, telling
(24:19):
me that we're about to go to a party. And
at this point I hadn't been allowed to leave the
house in two years, so I'm like, what's going on?
But he did agree to take me to this party. So,
to make a long story short, he changed me now
to him forces me to carry a cup with his
name on it, and that was just to embarrass me
(24:39):
and humiliate me. Takes me and my friends to this
party twenty minutes and to the party, they are about
eight guys that stand up with guns and they're pointing
it on a pimp and tells him to let me go.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Was this it her chance to get away from years
of abuse with the gorilla pimp allow his cash cow
to just walk?
Speaker 3 (25:01):
He says, I'll let her go, but then he puts
a gun to my temple and says that we're going
to play a game of Russian roulette. So he begins
to literally click this gun, and he's telling me that
there's one bullet in it.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
So I was so scared that I just went back
with him.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
And everybody was screaming like, no, you don't have to
like you know what I felt that I did, So
I go back with him.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And now I'll skip to the end.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
So there are several things that happened like after that,
But the end of the story when I finally got
away is I was sitting there and I was suicidal,
and I remember being between life and death literally where
I was thinking, either he's going to die or I'm
going to die.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
But I cannot do this another second.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
And he entered the room, and this is at the
sixth year mark, and he says, I trust you now,
I'm about to throw you on the stroll downtown Chicago.
And I said okay, because at this point I'm just
really like, I really feel like if I hadn't got
for me, I don't know what I would have done,
(26:06):
because I just was like in a crazy place mentally.
So he takes me out. He takes me downtown Chicago,
like dressed me up and I had on like lingerie
and some six inch like clear heels, puts me out
the car and tells me that I better make his money.
If I don't, then he's gonna kill me. And so
(26:26):
as soon as I seen him like turn the corner,
I just ran as fast as I could, and I
was like flagging down as many people as I could.
And as I flagged these people down, I realized that
I was right smack in the midst of a place
that was known for prostitution. They call it the Vagina
of downtown Chicago. It turns into I guess where they
(26:49):
sell prostitutes at night? So I'm running to different tricks.
They don't want to help me. I end up running
to a pimp. I didn't know that it was a
pemp until he without a huge butcher knife and he
tells me that he's gonna give me for reckless eyeball,
in which means I had learned from those brainwashing movies
(27:09):
the reckless eyeball. It means you can't look them in
the eyes, or they can take you to make you
become their slave, or they can take all your money
if you made money, or they can kill you and
your pump.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
So it's really this is like just one big game
to them, like one big sick game. It's a horror movie,
it is.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
So I'm running from him and he has this huge
busher knife that he's chasing me with, and as I'm running,
I'm screaming out as loud as I can, like help help.
So then I run into another man in a car
full of women and he says, I'll help you and
call me out of my name, and I knew, like,
oh yeah, he must be like another one of them,
(27:49):
And because I wouldn't go to him after I've seen
that he was another pemp, he pulls out a gun
and starts shooting, so all this is downtown Chicago where
they and it's so wonderful. So I'm running and as
I'm running this time, because I'm running so fast, my
foot gets cut from my shoe, like my heel broke
off and it so now I have blood coming down
(28:11):
my foot. So I'm running and or barely running, and
then I run into another man and it was a
white man in a black SUV. So I'm thinking like, oh,
he's probably gonna help me. So he tells me to
hop in. I tell him, like, drive as fast as
you can. I have so many people after me trying
to kill me. I've been trapped for six years. And
(28:32):
he tells me go to the corner and meet me
in three minutes. I knew something was off, but I
still went to the corner because I felt like this
is the only chance I have. And once I got
to that corner, the next thing I know, I'm hearing
sirens from everywhere. So I didn't know this then, but
I know now that he was an undercover cop and
he was trying to help me. But I didn't know
(28:53):
that because I wasn't familiar with like any of this.
So I'm just thinking, like they're about to arrest me.
So I started hiding and ducking and dining like you know,
a little alleys and everything because they were after me.
And then I went back to my roots. And I
had grew up in like church and stuff with my grandmother,
so didn't really have strength to pray too much, but
(29:15):
I just said, like, Lord covered me. So I seen
this guy with a huge gud tattooed. They said, God,
it was like so big. I could see it from
you know, across the way, and so I went to him.
He was out there with like other guys and they
were just like drinking and listening to music. And I
quickly told him that it was people after me and
can he please give me away? So he agreed. They
(29:37):
put me in a car and they had like some
covers that they put over my head, and he like,
as he began to drive, there was literally police shining
the light through the window, but they just didn't see me.
So he drove me far away to some type of
convention and it was about two hours away from where
we were. And once we got there, you know, they
(29:59):
had listened tell my story in the car. They act
like they were going to support me. He tells me,
you know, go into the room because it was like
this huge really I guess ritzy like hotel. And he
tells me to go into the room and get myself
cleaned up, and I do that.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
So this would be the time. Can these white men
in the hotel finally help her.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Once I come out of the bathroom, they're standing there
just looking at me like they're about to hurt me.
So I knew something was up. So I begged the guy, like, hey,
if I let you have me, can you make them
leave me alone? And also I need to make one
phone call and he agreed. So I literally had to
have sex one last time before I could even get free.
(30:42):
And it was horrible because I thought that this person
was really trying to help me.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
But so after I had had sex.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
With him, he allowed me to make one phone call
and I chose to call my childhood pastor. I don't
know why I trusted. I just trusted my pastor. I
didn't trust, you know, anybody else. So I called her
at four o'clock in the morning and she actually answered,
and I was just screaming and crying in the phone
(31:10):
and she's like, wait a minute, calm down. So he
snatches the phone out of my hand, and now he's
asking her for ransom in exchange for my life. And
he really wasn't trying to like bring me to her
or let her come get me. And they basically were
almost liking a debate like back and forth, and he
(31:31):
I guess he feared her calling the police or bringing
the police, so he ended up bringing me to the church.
At this point, It's about eight o'clock in the morning,
and I literally fell on the steps and my leader
had like a crew of women to like you know,
with like combs and brushes and towels and just everything
(31:52):
kind of nurse me back to health.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
And that's that was how I got free.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Wow, you go through a lotally to tell this story.
I mean, I can just feel what you've gone through.
It's like the constant up and down, up and down.
But no matter how painful the story is, you feel
compelled to tell it.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Why Yes, I have to.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
I feel like all of this would mean nothing if
I didn't, and I noted it as my life's purpose
as a result of everything I went through, like constantly
I would see on the news how girls just like me,
boys men even were being like captured and snatched into
(32:39):
human trafficking or lay of trafficking, and I would cry,
and I would be up all night kind of fighting
with myself on whether or not I wanted to come
forward to help somebody else. And finally I came I
had got into that place. And this is after years
of like counseling. You know, I have a trauma therapist
to this day.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
How do you heal from such abuse? Well?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
I have my faith definitely, Spirituality definitely plays a role,
and also just support from like you know, therapists and
my mom.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
You know, my leader is very very helpful. And I did.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I reached back and I started a nonprofit organization to
help survivors with rap ground services and also with the
aftermath of what happens, like to kind of help them
like restart their lives after because I know how hard
it is.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
First he the organization Honorable Women. Yes, what should we
look for if we see a young girl or a
young man. How do we know if they're in trouble,
if they're a victim of trafficking? And more importantly, what
should we do? I know there's a danger of just
(33:57):
approaching somebody and saying, you know, are you okay? Or
how do we know when what should we do?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Okay, well, first things first, I want everyone listening and
go on Amazon and purchase my book Brilliant Minds, Human.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Sex, Traffic and Workbook. It was a workbook that I
created to help with to be able to tell like
things like this. So the first thing is that we
must learn these characteristics. It's super important. You know, these
traffickers are not.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Walking around at church suits or however they show them
on TV like they can look like you and I.
They can look like anyone, but all of them have
these characteristics. So I tell people that they're narcissistic in
that they use a lot of cohersion and manipulation mind control,
(34:50):
also a lot of abuse, but they start off by
using like that manipulation of mind control and then as
far as the savirus things for even before the person
is even lured. So we can say some things to
look for, and a teenager even would be if there's
(35:11):
any loopholes. You know, I'm all through Chicago teaching es
like doing seminars to help people identify like the signs
and everything. And one of the things that I've heard
a parent say is, well, I'm a good parent you know,
my child doesn't feel a lack of love. And I
asked her, well, do you work a lot? And she says, yes,
(35:32):
I work a lot. I'm barely ever her home. Well,
then your child can absolutely be victimized, because if there's
a loophole where a child feels a lack of love
or understanding, a validation, any of these different things, then
they can be a target.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Predators know who to target. The powerless human trafficking with
an estimated twenty seven million victims worldwide. Some of the
victims work for nothing in legitimate business too, not just
the sex trade, but as free forced human labor. Stats
from the State Department show victims working in agriculture, janitorial services, construction, restaurants, factories,
(36:14):
massage parlors, salons, fairs, and carnivals. For Lakeisha, it was
the oldest profession prostitution. Did we see an adult or
some young girl whatever or young boy with an adult male,
How do we know they're being trafficked? I mean, is
there a sign that we can see with the victim
(36:36):
that can say crying out for help that they're in trouble.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Well, I'm not talking about this a little more in
my book but they're one of the sizes temant. Like
I told you, I could not speak and people didn't
know why I didn't say much, So they would either
be temant or extremely bold, and they may be like.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Very angry.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
So let's say that you offer to help and it's
like get away from me. You know, that's something to
look into because the reason why they could possibly be
angry and defensive is because they have a trafficker that's
nearby and they don't want to get killed or they
don't want to get you killed as a result. So
(37:19):
it could be very dangerous to try to help a
human trafficking survivor. But you can help them. The first
thing that you need to do is never be alone
with them because as I told you, it could be
very dangerous these traffickers who not care about taking your
life or the survivor's life. So if you suspect it
(37:41):
at all, you need to call a local police and
then call the Human Trafficking Hotland. And the reason why
I tell people to do this in disorder is because
the local police can get to you faster than the
Human Trafficking Hotline is like a national system, so they
can get to you and they can't send for out.
But I always tell people contact both, and then you
(38:02):
want to contact an organization like ours were another one
that specialized in human trafficking survivors, because that person is
gonna need a lot of support and a lot of help,
a lot of resources.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Now, what's your life like today? I understand your mom, yourself.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
How do you talk to your daughter?
Speaker 1 (38:23):
How do you do you fear that something like this
could happen to her.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
I wouldn't say that I fear it, but I definitely
teach her to be cautious. I'm always talking to her
about human trafficking. I even start young, like I have
an eight year old son as well, and even though
he's eight, I tell people that there is a way
to talk to little ones about trafficking. I wrote a
children's book called Bubble Spoke Up. And that's just a
(38:50):
book that warns about how to respond when you feel uncomfortable.
So as they're younger, I was just speak to them
about predatory behavior. And as they get older, then you
can have that conversation. So I will say about twelve
years old and up, it would be more of like
the full human trafficking conversation.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
And I just tell her.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
I don't want her to be afraid, but I want
her to know that it is out here and it's
still out here, and that she needs to be cautious
and mindful. And there are certain apps as well that
I you know, educate communities on using, Like one of
them is the noon Light app that I highly recommend
you want to get an app that can help with
(39:33):
just you being able to quickly contact the local police.
Let's say this, you're not able to do anything else,
Like they have apps where you at the touch of
a button. I know with the noon Light app, you're
able to get in contact with the police and they
can actually come to where you are. So even if
the person takes your phone at that point, or if
something happens, the police still can locate you and come
(39:56):
to where you are to try to rescue you out
of that situation. And so just being extremely prepared and
aware is the main thing. People need to have these
conversations and not be afraid to have these conversations, especially
with the youth.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
And you send the noon Light app neverye yes.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Yes, it's called the noon Light App. Again, your organization
is honorable. Women.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
How can listeners connect with you and get your books
and learn everything that you're doing.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
My books are any of my writing materials on Amazon,
So if you look up Lakeisha Walker on Amazon, all
of everything that I've written pops up. And then also
on Instagram, Facebook, you can look me up as Honorable
Women Inc. So it's Honorable Women Inc. On Instagram, Honorable
Women Inc. On Facebook. And then I also have TikTok,
(40:57):
a TikTok platform where I can send your spread awareness. Yes,
and that name is Lakeisha Walker. Seven seven seven, Lakisha Walker.
Thank you for your story, Thank you for your courage,
Thank you for your commitment to save as many as
you can from being victims of human trafficking. Thank you
(41:17):
so much. I appreciate you for opening up your platform
and allowing me to speak.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
It means the world to me.
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