New form of slavery

sion of slavery, human trafficking.

LAURAVANDEPETTE NEWS EDITOR

LCV722@CABRINI EDU

During the midst of winter break, while catching up on “The Soprano” re-runs and conquering crowded shopping malls, I found myself in a cramped bookstore reading the back of a book I had heard some positive buzz about, it read, “At the age of 23, James Frey woke up on a plane to find his four front teeth knocked out, nose broken, and a hole through his cheek. He had no idea where the plane was headed or any recollection of the past two weeks. An alcoholic for ten years and a crack addict for three, he checked into a treatment center shortly after landing. There he was told he could either stop using or die before he reached age 24.”

His memoir,“AMillion Little Pieces,” has won national attention, most notably on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” when she announced Frey’s memoir would be the coveted book of the month in her esteemed book club.

Oprah claimed she stayed up for two straight nights and simply could not close the 432-page account of Frey’s six weeks in rehab.

Jumping on the bandwagon, I bought “AMillion Little Pieces” and finished it in four days and felt as if I had been through the journey with Frey himself. I felt feelings of disgust, fear, joy, sadness and hope. It felt great to read a book on my own time without fretting over taking notes and writing an in-depth analysis as I normally would for a classrelated book. It felt even better to read a book and enjoy every word. Frey’s message of hope made me feel emotions that no other piece of literature ever brought out in me, which is why I was stunned to find out he was a liar.

Asix-week investigation by The Smoking Gun website reveals that there may be a lot less to love about Frey’s runaway hit, which has sold more than 3.5 million copies and, thanks to Winfrey, has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list for the past 15 weeks. Next to the latest “Harry Potter” title, Nielsen BookScan reported that Frey’s book sold more copies in the U.S. in 2005 than any other title.

Frey sold 1.77 million copies, with the majority of that total coming after Winfrey’s selection, according to www.thesmokinggun.com.

The findings from their investigation suggest that the author “wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details” of his supposed criminal career, jail terms and status as an outlaw “wanted in three states.” Frey exaggerated his criminal record to “tone up” his story.

In an interview on “Larry King Live,” Frey said, “I wrote a memoir.I never expected the book to come under the type of scrutiny that it has. Amemoir literally means my story; a memoir is a subjective retelling of events.” Larry King shot back and said, “But it is supposed to be factual events. The memoir is a form of biography.” Frey responded saying, “Yes. Memoir is within the genre of non-fiction. I don’tthink it’s necessarily appropriate to say I’ve conned anyone. The book is 432 pages long. The total page count of disputed events is 18, which is less than five percent of the total book. You know,that falls comfortably within the realm of what’s appropriate for a memoir.” After hearing Frey’s response to King’squestions, I had to wonder why he felt the need to embellish anything, considering the incredible life he had in the first place.

The Smoking Gun website claims that in addition to these rap sheet creations, Frey also invented a role for himself in a deadly train accident that cost the lives of two female high school students. In what may be his book’s most tactless flight from reality, Frey remarkably appro- priates and manipulates details of the incident so he can falsely portray himself as the tragedy’s third victim. It’s a cynical and offensive ploy that has left one of the victims’parents bewildered. “As far as I know, he had nothing to do with the accident,” said the mother of one of the dead girls. “I figured he was taking license...he’s a writer, you know, they don’t tell everything that’s factual and true.”

When I read these allegations on the Smoking Gun website, I was bewildered. Could the author I admired so deeply and the man who had conjured such fierce emotions just a few days before have been lying to me? As an aspiring journalist, I feel there is a code of ethics that must be adhered to. It makes me feel sick that Frey has become a millionaire since the “Oprah Show,” and his money is predicated on lies, or “exaggerated truths,” as Frey says.

All journalists or any nonfiction writer should seek to report the whole truth. The Society of Professional Journalists says non-fiction writers and reporters should tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly,even when it is unpopular to do so. Did Frey miss this lesson while in the midst of his crack addiction?

“A Million Little Pieces,” is an inspirational, emotional roller coaster of a journey, but the scenarios and excerpts that are in question and the other million little lies could have easily been left out, and I would have still loved Frey’smemoir. As a journalist and once a James Frey admirer,Ican say that I felt no remorse in tossing his memoir in the garbage. I also believe that anyone who has read the undeniable allegations stacked against Frey owe it to themselves to throw his book of a million little lies in the garbage as well. If the 1.77 million people who read the book in 2005 wanted to read a fairy-tale, they would have bought the latest installation of “Harry Potter.”

SHATOYAHOWARD ASST NEWSEDITOR SRH725@CABRINI EDU

In my race and ethnic relations class, we have been focusing on the history of race and ethnic relations in this country back to the times of Columbus and even talking about the founders of this very country.

The main thing that stood out for me about those people was that we paint them as heroes of our country, but many of them thought it was fine to own slaves. I’m not sure if they thought that, because in those times it was accepted as a “norm,” but I do know that with all the information I was taught about them in younger years, this is a shock to me. It’s a shock that Columbus thought the Native Americans would make good slaves and that they were naive because they shared every single thing they owned. I always thought the Europeans who first came stole the Native Americans’land, and I always concentrated on the fact that if they didn’t, we wouldn’t be the America that we are today, despite the moral issues.

Another thing the class learned that could not only change what type of person I am today but furthermore what type of country we would be now is that President Lincoln’s first decision wasn’tto abolish slavery. So I think about the fact that this country could still own other people and probably not just African Americans but other minorities as well. But when I thought about that, I was forced to think about an issue that is becoming a huge part of this country and to me it is a new ver-

Human trafficking is the recruiting, harboring, obtaining and transporting of people by use of force, fraud or intimidation for the purpose of subjecting them to involuntary acts, such as prostitution, begging, working in sweatshops, domestic servitude and manual labor. This form of slavery is trafficking about 20,000 people into the United States every year against their will. That number may seem small to you, but what if you were tricked into leaving everything you’ve ever known on a false hope or lie, and you were brought to an unknown country where you can’t escape and may not even know the language. Oh, did I forget to mention the people who trafficked you here stole your passport, money and identification so you can’t even go anywhere if you escape?

The United States government adopted an international law in 2000, which includes two procedures to help eliminate trafficking. The government has also taken a firm stance and is educating Americans about this problem.

I hope that not only the government can help eliminate this problem, but also the millions of Americans who live in this country and thus should look at this problem through the eyes of those who are being brought into slavery. I believe that even though slavery is a part of our country’s history, it is not what we stand for now or what we should be remembered for.

So log on to your computers and find out what you can do to eliminate this problem, because everyone can have a voice on this issue. Maybe you can help by just writing your congressmen and getting them involved in this issue, because every little bit can help these victims stay safe and at home with their loved ones.