September 12, 2025 • 41 mins
Dr. Vanessa Tyler speaks with survivor Lakeisha Walker about her harrowing experience as a victim of human sex trafficking. Lakeisha shares her story in vivid detail, reliving the nightmare that started when she was just 18 years old. Today, Lakeisha is founder and CEO of Honorable Women Inc., an organization that fights for the rights of human sex trafficking victims. She is also an author and motivational speaker.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. This is black Land 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. I did not receive a
dime of any money that was earned 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 now as
a brown person, you just feel so invisible where we're from.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Brothers and sisters are welcome you to this joyful and.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Day we celebrate freedom.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Where we are. I know someone heard something and where
we're going. We the people means all the people.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (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?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Well?
Speaker 2 (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
(02:06):
local drug dealer. 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
(02:29):
was a trafficker. 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 loved he kind of loved by me and told
me that I was everything. I was amazing, And from
(02:50):
there he began the trauma 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. Would you go back to that just
a little bit, yes, how many stories I mean?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (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 3 (03:43):
It was kind of like hell for me.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And obviously you were injured at that time.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So she, yes, her ankle was broken off, literally like
she still has a ride in her legs to this day.
And for me, I had a ride in my arm,
well like a little ride in my arm. And they
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 2 (04:27):
Yes, this literally happened to me not far from where
I was raised, where I grew up at and so
it literally can happen next door. This wasn't like a
long path away from where I grew up, you know.
This was pretty much down the street from where I
grew up. And when I ended up locked in a
(04:50):
house for six years of my life, it wasn't that far.
Speaker 3 (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 turn ugly, and what was nice is
mean and evil.
Speaker 2 (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. And then when did things turn? Things took
a turn within about a month after I met him.
(06:39):
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 3 (06:51):
I didn't know what he really was talking about.
Speaker 2 (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 talking.
(07:18):
But 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. And then there's a
gorilla pimp. The gorilla pimp 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,
(08:25):
You're gonna do what I say, or I'm gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So strip club that first time, Yes, he encountered the
gorilla pimp.
Speaker 2 (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.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
And then there were.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
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, what
the heck is going on? These girls, you know, like
we're trying to convince me to go into the back.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Oh, she can be a family with us.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
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 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
(09:26):
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, you can.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
We'll help, We'll pay for your first dance.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We've all done this before, and overnight within a twenty
four hour timeframe.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I'm an exotic dancer. And you said.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Something a few seconds ago. Sold. And of course you
know we know that Verbridge in the African American community
because our ancestor were sold so literally like a slave.
Speaker 2 (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. At times. 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 after
(10:48):
I completed that action of stripping and then they I
tell people all the time they use that they'll try
to see how far they can get you to go.
So once they see that you'll do something than that,
they say, then they kind of press past your boundaries.
So at the end of the night, I had told
him like, hey, I did what you said. In fact,
(11:08):
I've done more than what you said, So can we
just get out of here?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Can you get me out of here?
Speaker 2 (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. And so I danced for
about three weeks. At this point. It was like nothing,
(11:36):
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, at the end of
(11:56):
my shift, and I couldn't find them. And those same
girls they pretend 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 3 (12:11):
So at the door was the Gorilla Pump.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And as I'm leaving out, he tells me that I
need to come and have a conversation with him immediately.
And the way he said it, it puts so much
fear in me.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I just knew that I needed to. 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.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
You know you're gonna be like my sex wave and
if you don't, then I'll kill you. And if you're
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
beg 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 3 (13:04):
No?
Speaker 2 (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 dress 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, like the owner. 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
(14:12):
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 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
(14:33):
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. I just
made up excuses, you know, why it happened, Like, oh
I ran into a wall, like I fell downstairs, whatever
(14:53):
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 me back,
and I'm going to try to go out of town
or something tonight. And she says okay, But then two
(15:16):
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 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 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 2 (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 3 (16:19):
Yes it is.
Speaker 2 (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 and he takes me
in a room. There's like bolted lots going all the
way down the door. I get in the room, I
see chains, a bed and a TV with a chester
(16:42):
it set like on top of a chester drawer. But
there was nothing else in the room, 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
(17:06):
locked me up to these chains. He 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 the watching in a way, yes, it is, absolutely
so I said I wasn't going to watch the movies,
(17:27):
so he says, well, they'll be hell to.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Pay and punishments for when you disobey.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (17:49):
So as up again.
Speaker 2 (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 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 3 (18:50):
They didn't call the police.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And to this day, I don't know why nobody called
the police because my story is so deep. Even my
friend ended 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 3 (19:14):
And that's not what happened.
Speaker 2 (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 2 (19:58):
All 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 like people like me go
(20:22):
through in the process.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Because there were people, I mean, they've seen me changed,
you know. He would bring people there to mock me
and everything, and there were people that would laugh at me.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
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 3 (20:48):
Inflicting pain during sex. So these people that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Chain like around your ankle or No, there.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (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 3 (21:33):
No, not only when he wanted me to.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And that's what I'm saying about, like the whole peeing
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 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.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
To this day, Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (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 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 trafficing, how did you get away?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Well after? Okay?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
So I was summing up as quickly as I can.
I mean, I had a friend who ended 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 Shermaine, and as soon
(23:53):
as he opened the door and let her come in,
she began to cry, and basically, to make 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.
(24:13):
And she says, I've arranged something, and next thing I know,
the pimp is coming Rome telling 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
(24:35):
me to carry a cup with his name on it,
and that was just to embarrass me and humiliate me.
Takes me and my friends to this party. Twenty minutes
in to the party, they're 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 2 (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 3 (25:13):
So I was so scared that I just went back
with him.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (25:25):
And now I'll skip to the end.
Speaker 2 (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, but I cannot do this another second.
And he entered the room, and this is at the
(25:47):
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,
because I just was like in.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
A crazy place mentally. So he takes me out.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
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.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
If I don't, then he's gonna kill me.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And so 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
(26:48):
where they sell prostitute 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 the reckless eyeball that means you can't look
(27:11):
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. So it's really this is like
just one big game to them, like one big sick game.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
It's a horror movie, it is.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
So I'm running from him and he has this huge
bush 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 gets 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 my foot.
(28:12):
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 he tells me
(28:33):
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 that because I
(28:54):
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 dozing like you know, a little alleys
and everything because they were after me.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
And then I went back to my roots.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And I had grew up in like church and stuff
with my grandmother, so didn't really have strength to pray
too much, but 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
(29:31):
to music. And I quickly told him that it was
people after me and can he please give me away?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
So he agreed.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
They 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 to 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, so this would.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Be the time. Can these white men in the hotel
finally help her?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Once I come out of the bathroom, they're standing there
just looking at me like they're about to hurt me.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
So I knew something was up. So I begged the guy.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
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. And it was horrible because I thought
that this person was really trying to help me. But
so after I had had sex with him, he allowed
(30:51):
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 and she's like, wait
a minute, calm down. So he snatches the phone out
(31:14):
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, I guess he feared
her calling the police, of bringing the police, so he
(31:35):
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 kind of nurse
me back to health.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
And that's that was how I got free.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Wow, you go through a lot.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
To tell this story.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
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 3 (32:15):
Why Yes, I have to.
Speaker 2 (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.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
To this day.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
How do you heal from such abuse?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Well? I have my faith definitely, Spirituality definitely plays a role,
and also just support from like you know, therapists and
my mom.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
You know, my leader is very very helpful. And I did.
Speaker 2 (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?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Well, first things first, I want everyone listening and go
on Amazon and purchase my book Brilliant Minds, Human Sex,
Traffic and Work Book. 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
(34:25):
traffickers are not 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
(34:47):
and manipulation mind control, 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 a
little for even before the person is even lured. So
we can say some things to look for and a
(35:08):
teenager even would be if there's any loopholes. You know,
I'm all through Chicago teaching ees like doing seminars to
help people identify like the signs and everything. And one
of the things that I've heard of parents say is, well,
I'm a good parent. You know, my child doesn't feel
(35:28):
a lack of love. And I asked her, well, do
you work a lot? And she says, yes, 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 or whatever, or a young boy with
an adult male and do we know they're being trafficked?
I mean, is there a sign that we can see
(36:34):
with the victim that can say crying out for help
that they're in trouble.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Well, I'm not talking about this a little more in
my book, but they're one of the science is 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 very angry. So let's say that you offer to
(37:02):
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 it could be very dangerous to try
to help a human trafficking survivor. But you can help them.
(37:26):
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 do not care about
taking your life or the survivor's life. So if you
suspect it at all, you need to call a local
police and then call the.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Human Trafficking hotline.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
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 want to contact an organization like ours
were another one that specialized in human trafficking survivors, because
(38:11):
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.
How do you talk to your daughter? How do you
do you fear that something like this could happen to her.
Speaker 2 (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
(38:49):
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.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
So I will say about twelve years.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Old and up, it would be more of like the
full human trafficking conversation, and I just tell her 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
(39:25):
noon Light app that I highly recommend you want to
get an app that can help with 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
(39:45):
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 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
(40:10):
be afraid to have these conversations, especially with the youth.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
And you're sending the noon Light app never ye.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
Yes, yes, it's called the noon Light app.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Again, your organization is honorable Women. How can listeners connect
with you and get your books and learn everything that
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
My books are any of my writing materials on Amazon,
So if you look up Lakeisha Walker on Amazon, all of.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Everything that I've written pops up.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
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, a TikTok platform where I can send
your spread awareness. Yes, and that name is Lakeisha Walker.
Seven seven seven, Lakisha Walker.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
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.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you for opening up
your platform and allowing me to speak. It means the
world to me.
I'm Vanessa Tyler. This is black Land 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. I did not receive a
dime of any money that was earned 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 now as
a brown person, you just feel so invisible where we're from.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Brothers and sisters are welcome you to this joyful and.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Day we celebrate freedom.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Where we are. I know someone heard something and where
we're going. We the people means all the people.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (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?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Well?
Speaker 2 (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
(02:06):
local drug dealer. 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
(02:29):
was a trafficker. 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 loved he kind of loved by me and told
me that I was everything. I was amazing, And from
(02:50):
there he began the trauma 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. Would you go back to that just
a little bit, yes, how many stories I mean?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (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 3 (03:43):
It was kind of like hell for me.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And obviously you were injured at that time.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So she, yes, her ankle was broken off, literally like
she still has a ride in her legs to this day.
And for me, I had a ride in my arm,
well like a little ride in my arm. And they
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 2 (04:27):
Yes, this literally happened to me not far from where
I was raised, where I grew up at and so
it literally can happen next door. This wasn't like a
long path away from where I grew up, you know.
This was pretty much down the street from where I
grew up. And when I ended up locked in a
(04:50):
house for six years of my life, it wasn't that far.
Speaker 3 (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 turn ugly, and what was nice is
mean and evil.
Speaker 2 (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. And then when did things turn? Things took
a turn within about a month after I met him.
(06:39):
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 3 (06:51):
I didn't know what he really was talking about.
Speaker 2 (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 talking.
(07:18):
But 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. And then there's a
gorilla pimp. The gorilla pimp 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,
(08:25):
You're gonna do what I say, or I'm gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
So strip club that first time, Yes, he encountered the
gorilla pimp.
Speaker 2 (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.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
And then there were.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
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, what
the heck is going on? These girls, you know, like
we're trying to convince me to go into the back.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Oh, she can be a family with us.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
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 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
(09:26):
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, you can.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
We'll help, We'll pay for your first dance.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We've all done this before, and overnight within a twenty
four hour timeframe.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I'm an exotic dancer. And you said.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Something a few seconds ago. Sold. And of course you
know we know that Verbridge in the African American community
because our ancestor were sold so literally like a slave.
Speaker 2 (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. At times. 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 after
(10:48):
I completed that action of stripping and then they I
tell people all the time they use that they'll try
to see how far they can get you to go.
So once they see that you'll do something than that,
they say, then they kind of press past your boundaries.
So at the end of the night, I had told
him like, hey, I did what you said. In fact,
(11:08):
I've done more than what you said, So can we
just get out of here?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Can you get me out of here?
Speaker 2 (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. And so I danced for
about three weeks. At this point. It was like nothing,
(11:36):
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, at the end of
(11:56):
my shift, and I couldn't find them. And those same
girls they pretend 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 3 (12:11):
So at the door was the Gorilla Pump.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And as I'm leaving out, he tells me that I
need to come and have a conversation with him immediately.
And the way he said it, it puts so much
fear in me.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I just knew that I needed to. 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.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
You know you're gonna be like my sex wave and
if you don't, then I'll kill you. And if you're
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
beg 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 3 (13:04):
No?
Speaker 2 (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 dress 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, like the owner. 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
(14:12):
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 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
(14:33):
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. I just
made up excuses, you know, why it happened, Like, oh
I ran into a wall, like I fell downstairs, whatever
(14:53):
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 me back,
and I'm going to try to go out of town
or something tonight. And she says okay, But then two
(15:16):
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 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 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 2 (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 3 (16:19):
Yes it is.
Speaker 2 (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 and he takes me
in a room. There's like bolted lots going all the
way down the door. I get in the room, I
see chains, a bed and a TV with a chester
(16:42):
it set like on top of a chester drawer. But
there was nothing else in the room, 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
(17:06):
locked me up to these chains. He 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 the watching in a way, yes, it is, absolutely
so I said I wasn't going to watch the movies,
(17:27):
so he says, well, they'll be hell to.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Pay and punishments for when you disobey.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (17:49):
So as up again.
Speaker 2 (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 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 3 (18:50):
They didn't call the police.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And to this day, I don't know why nobody called
the police because my story is so deep. Even my
friend ended 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 3 (19:14):
And that's not what happened.
Speaker 2 (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 2 (19:58):
All 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 like people like me go
(20:22):
through in the process.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Because there were people, I mean, they've seen me changed,
you know. He would bring people there to mock me
and everything, and there were people that would laugh at me.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
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 3 (20:48):
Inflicting pain during sex. So these people that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Chain like around your ankle or No, there.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (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 3 (21:33):
No, not only when he wanted me to.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And that's what I'm saying about, like the whole peeing
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 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.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
To this day, Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (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 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 trafficing, how did you get away?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Well after? Okay?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
So I was summing up as quickly as I can.
I mean, I had a friend who ended 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 Shermaine, and as soon
(23:53):
as he opened the door and let her come in,
she began to cry, and basically, to make 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.
(24:13):
And she says, I've arranged something, and next thing I know,
the pimp is coming Rome telling 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
(24:35):
me to carry a cup with his name on it,
and that was just to embarrass me and humiliate me.
Takes me and my friends to this party. Twenty minutes
in to the party, they're 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 2 (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 3 (25:13):
So I was so scared that I just went back
with him.
Speaker 2 (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 3 (25:25):
And now I'll skip to the end.
Speaker 2 (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, but I cannot do this another second.
And he entered the room, and this is at the
(25:47):
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,
because I just was like in.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
A crazy place mentally. So he takes me out.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
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.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
If I don't, then he's gonna kill me.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
And so 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
(26:48):
where they sell prostitute 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 the reckless eyeball that means you can't look
(27:11):
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. So it's really this is like
just one big game to them, like one big sick game.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
It's a horror movie, it is.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
So I'm running from him and he has this huge
bush 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 gets 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 my foot.
(28:12):
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 he tells me
(28:33):
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 that because I
(28:54):
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 dozing like you know, a little alleys
and everything because they were after me.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
And then I went back to my roots.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And I had grew up in like church and stuff
with my grandmother, so didn't really have strength to pray
too much, but 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
(29:31):
to music. And I quickly told him that it was
people after me and can he please give me away?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
So he agreed.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
They 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 to 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, so this would.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Be the time. Can these white men in the hotel
finally help her?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Once I come out of the bathroom, they're standing there
just looking at me like they're about to hurt me.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
So I knew something was up. So I begged the guy.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
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. And it was horrible because I thought
that this person was really trying to help me. But
so after I had had sex with him, he allowed
(30:51):
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 and she's like, wait
a minute, calm down. So he snatches the phone out
(31:14):
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, I guess he feared
her calling the police, of bringing the police, so he
(31:35):
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 kind of nurse
me back to health.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
And that's that was how I got free.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Wow, you go through a lot.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
To tell this story.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
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 3 (32:15):
Why Yes, I have to.
Speaker 2 (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.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
To this day.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
How do you heal from such abuse?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Well? I have my faith definitely, Spirituality definitely plays a role,
and also just support from like you know, therapists and
my mom.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
You know, my leader is very very helpful. And I did.
Speaker 2 (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?
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Well, first things first, I want everyone listening and go
on Amazon and purchase my book Brilliant Minds, Human Sex,
Traffic and Work Book. 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
(34:25):
traffickers are not 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
(34:47):
and manipulation mind control, 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 a
little for even before the person is even lured. So
we can say some things to look for and a
(35:08):
teenager even would be if there's any loopholes. You know,
I'm all through Chicago teaching ees like doing seminars to
help people identify like the signs and everything. And one
of the things that I've heard of parents say is, well,
I'm a good parent. You know, my child doesn't feel
(35:28):
a lack of love. And I asked her, well, do
you work a lot? And she says, yes, 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 or whatever, or a young boy with
an adult male and do we know they're being trafficked?
I mean, is there a sign that we can see
(36:34):
with the victim that can say crying out for help
that they're in trouble.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Well, I'm not talking about this a little more in
my book, but they're one of the science is 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 very angry. So let's say that you offer to
(37:02):
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 it could be very dangerous to try
to help a human trafficking survivor. But you can help them.
(37:26):
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 do not care about
taking your life or the survivor's life. So if you
suspect it at all, you need to call a local
police and then call the.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Human Trafficking hotline.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
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 want to contact an organization like ours
were another one that specialized in human trafficking survivors, because
(38:11):
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.
How do you talk to your daughter? How do you
do you fear that something like this could happen to her.
Speaker 2 (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
(38:49):
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.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
So I will say about twelve years.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Old and up, it would be more of like the
full human trafficking conversation, and I just tell her 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
(39:25):
noon Light app that I highly recommend you want to
get an app that can help with 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
(39:45):
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 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
(40:10):
be afraid to have these conversations, especially with the youth.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
And you're sending the noon Light app never ye.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
Yes, yes, it's called the noon Light app.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Again, your organization is honorable Women. How can listeners connect
with you and get your books and learn everything that
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
My books are any of my writing materials on Amazon,
So if you look up Lakeisha Walker on Amazon, all of.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Everything that I've written pops up.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
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, a TikTok platform where I can send
your spread awareness. Yes, and that name is Lakeisha Walker.
Seven seven seven, Lakisha Walker.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
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.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Thank you so much. I appreciate you for opening up
your platform and allowing me to speak. It means the
world to me.
Host
Vanessa Tyler
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