UTM held its first ever End It movement event outside the UC at 8:27 p.m. on April 9.
The music performance lasted exactly 27 minutes, and miniature flashlights were handed out to attendees so that they could “shine a light” on human trafficking. To conclude the show, the band led the audience in shining their lights together
to symbolize their newfound awareness.
Kristen Lackey, an Education major and UTM softball player, was asked to speak to students during the End It event. Lackey accepted the offer, and gave an emotional speech voicing her concern.
The event also made its audience aware of how close human trafficking is to home. Although slavery has been abolished in the U.S. for well over a century, the End It movement has discovered that one of the largest hubs for human trafficking is in Atlanta, Ga.
To bring attention to this, the band’s lead singer Stephen Lacy encouraged the audience to visit www.slaveryfootprint.org to see how many slaves have contributed to their comfortable lifestyle. Lacy openly admitted that he himself had no less than 50.
Elliot Linhoss, College Minister at Central Baptist Church, first felt inspired to bring this event to UTM while attending the Passion conference in Georgia this past January. Linhoss was shocked to learn that slavery is more prominent now than it has ever been in history, and decided to get UTM involved in the nation wide movement sponsored by Crash.
“When Rhinos come together, they are called a crash,” Linhoss said.
He continued to explain that when rhinoceros run together, they “make an impact,” which Linhoss and the group intend to do as well.
Tawlyandra Richardson, a junior Finance and Accounting double major, and Maria Downing, a senior Health and Human Performance major, are both members of the campus church and provided support for the event.
Downing has attended Passion conferences before, but this January was the first time the End It movement had been brought to her attention.
“Supposedly, slavery isn’t supposed to be here,” Downing says.
Linhoss says he wants to make End It an annual event, and Richardson and Downing have both expressed interest in helping again.
