This year, do something–small or large–to fight modern day slavery.

If you grew up in the free world, then you–like me–may have experienced a tiny window of childhood where you mistakenly believed slavery had been abolished.

The bad information, for me, swirled around Honest Abe, the Civil War and, of course, the Emancipation Proclamation. Teachers used phrases like “slavery was abolished” to students like myself who were too young to distinguish American law from world law…or to distinguish between laws on the books and the underground communities, even state-side, that disregard them.

Still, I was fascinated by the subject, writing a short film on Sojourner Truth in high school and drinking up gripping, first hand accounts from slaves and abolitionists alike.

I think somewhere in middle or high school, it registered in my awareness that slavery still existed in the world. But modern day slavery still seemed like this terribly rare occurrence, akin to a rare kidnapping, that happened in remote pockets of the world that were under-developed and under-policed.

But even though I had never read or even heard any first-hand accounts about human trafficking in the present tense, for some reason, the topic always stuck in my soul.

It might’ve been the short film about Sojourner Truth that I co-wrote and co-directed in high school. Or the fact that someone once told me my maternal grandmother, Marion Stowe, was said to be a relative of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famous author whose book profiled the evils of slavery.

Or it might’ve been because Michigan, too, had some slavery-ending history sprinkled over it. Or that Jackson, where I moved to at age eighteen, was home to the first meeting of an anti-slavery group that became the Republican Party .

Regardless, somewhere along the way, I kept learning and started to come across new information, perhaps like you have. To read narratives about present day human trafficking–profiles of women and children who have been enslaved both abroad and here in the states…and all within my lifetime.

I remember being shocked that the world, in our allegedly evolved state, hadn’t figured out a way to nail this issue to the wall.

I felt a sense of brotherhood–a loose sense of kinship–to these people who were no different than the victims presented as past-tense in my American History books. Except for that I knew there was something inauthentic about feeling camaraderie with these people, as I’d never felt or fought the injustice the world had dealt them.

It felt insincere to feel any emotional connection, some impulse toward brotherhood, when I was not doing what I would do if one of my real genetic siblings were impacted by human trafficking.

Which is join the efforts to stop it.

The world of course is already lead by noble voices and brilliant organizations tackling this issue of course, so I am not moved to form a rival non-profit to replicate what the existing ones are already doing.

But I would like to do something else to leverage my niche as a writer and idea-sourcer and to invite you to leverage your niches as well.

Over the course of 2012, I’ll be working on a personal project related to Human Trafficking. And I’d like to invite you–whoever you are: artist, writer, blogger, crafter, filmmaker, photographer, whatever–to add some piece of your art or craft to a campaign to bring good to these efforts.

We’ll be finalizing the details over the next few months, but the requirement is simple. If, somewhere before the end of 2012, you’re willing to contribute something–a photo, a sculpture, a song, a video, a blog, something of your choosing–to an awareness or fund-raising campaign, will you leave your name and website below?

Sometime this spring, I’ll contact you with further information and you can figure out your piece as we raise a voice of brotherhood together.

[Also, don't be afraid to leave a comment, idea or suggestion by clicking the "Comments" link by the title of this blog post. I'd love to hear your heart on this.]