Slavery Still Exists Today–And Here Is Living Proof: Simon Deng and Charles Jacobs

“I was born in a village where we were subjected to attacks on a monthly basis, or yearly basis. The government troops [would] come and burn down the villages—kill whoever that they will find. … When I see what happened recently in Israel, where they went and burned down, and shot people—that’s exactly what I experienced when I was a child.”

When Simon Deng was nine years old, he was kidnapped from South Sudan and brought to the North. He was given to an Arab family as a “gift,” and enslaved for more than three years.

“I’m here talking to you as a living proof of the slavery which still exists,” says Mr. Deng.

25 years ago, Charles Jacobs helped to liberate tens of thousands of slaves in Africa, and received an award from Coretta Scott King for his work.

“We went to the slave redemption sites, and we talked to the survivors who were brought back. And they told us their stories,” he says.

Today, Mr. Deng and Mr. Jacobs are cofounders of the newly-formed African Jewish Alliance, which raises awareness about the threat posed by Jihadism.

“Hamas is no different than Boko Haram in Nigeria,“ says Mr. Jacobs. ”It’s one front in Israel, but it belongs to a global movement. And people need to know that.”

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