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Health Dept’s Red Sand Project tells trafficking victims, “We see you”
WILLIAM NORTHCUTT
Staff Reporter
Around 25 participants gathered in Dyersburg at McIver’s Grant Public Library to take red sand and place it in sidewalk cracks, symbolizing the victims of human trafficking who have “fallen through the cracks.”
The Dyer County Health Department held three Red Sand Project events in Dyersburg and Newbern on Wednesday, July 31. According to event organizers, “The Red Sand Project is a participatory art installment designed to shed light on human trafficking.” They further explain that “The red sand is used to draw attention to the human trafficking victims that fall through the cracks of our society.
The Red Sand Project is a world-wide initiative begun in 2014 to raise awareness. State and regional organizations coordinate with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dyer County Health Department Educator Robyn Russell explained this year’s local events. “This is annual project of the Tennessee Department of Health...and we’ve been doing this since before Covid, since 2018.” She said the focus this year from WHO is on children, and here, the focus is on local issues. She added that they are trying to raise awareness “for anyone. It could be kidnapping for sex trafficking for slavery.” She said it is a problem “everywhere.”
After Russell spoke to those gathered, participants took cups of red sand and poured the sand into cement and pavement cracks, and some drew pictures, some with messages such as “We see you.”
McIver’s Grant Public Library was quick to offer their premises for the event. Library Digital Cataloguer Lara Freidhof said that the Red Sand Project provided the library with just one more way to serve the community. She noted that when Russell contacted the library to ask about that site, they replied, “We would love to host such a meaningful event.”
The focus on the trafficking of children this year answers a growing problem in the world and in Tennessee. According to a 2023 report by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, “minor sex trafficking far exceeds the other forms of trafficking reported” They also reported that in 2023, there were 518 reported cases of child sex trafficking in Tennessee.