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Changing Hawaii
LAST Tuesday, three young ladies walked home from school together in Kalihi. Whether they were chatting about homework or their favorite singer, Britney Spears, really doesn't matter. All their parents can do now is fret and grieve. Protecting Hawaii’s
girls from predatorsAs the trio strolled along the sidewalk, a 23-year-old driver lost control of his van, which jumped the curb and plowed directly into the girls. Twelve-year-old Nancy Phongsavath died, while sisters Switzer and Hilovelyn Luab, 12 and 10, were seriously injured.
Television news footage showed their footwear strewn at the accident scene. What a horrible, haunting image -- especially for those who'd dread having the same thing (knock on wood) happen to our own kids, grandkids, relatives or acquaintances.
But what can be done to protect them? We can't be with them every minute.
For one thing, this tragedy can spur us to talk about the importance of being alert at all times, even in seemingly safe places like asphalt walkways, in crosswalks that have the green light, and at shopping centers.
At shopping centers? Most definitely. Because, with all due respect to the parents of boys, the guardians of underage girls must be especially vigilant to the exploitive business of teen prostitution, which often does its recruiting at the friendly neighborhood mall.
This was one of the many eye-openers revealed last week in Christine Donnelly's three-part series, "Girls for sale."
According to a former small-time pimp now incarcerated for drug violations at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, she and her mentor would troll busy Honolulu malls for pretty girls window-shopping at expensive stores.
"It was like a game," the pimp remembers. "We'd compete to see who could get the most."
Some "game": to see how many vulnerable and especially high-risk teens could be cajoled, tricked and then forced into a lifestyle riddled with rapes and beatings, getting hooked on drugs and alcohol, catching venereal disease or HIV, and/or becoming pregnant.
THERE are ways, fortunately, to reduce the number of underage recruits and workers in the sex industry, who are mostly employed at massage parlors, lap-dancing clubs or escort services. (In a tiny island state with an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 minors involved in Hawaii's sex trade, the odds are high that one of them is the kid next door.)
Two legislative steps in fighting teen prostitution would raise the age of consent (see editorial at left), and develop and fund more gender-specific rehabilitation programs. In the meantime, though, everybody can get involved.
Everybody. Just keep your eyes open.
One of my friends regularly takes her 16-year-old to the mall and surreptitiously points out suspicious-looking characters who seem to be trailing young women. I myself would have no qualms about summoning security guards and alerting them to anyone seemingly stalking and bothering lone girls.
Granted, not much can be done to keep a runaway van from hitting you on the sidewalk except to remain alert. That's also good advice in putting the brakes on teen prostitution.
By being aware, helping authorities and talking about the threat, you can help thwart a pimp's most nefarious plans for Hawaii's girls. It's a "game" this community can't afford to lose.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.