Sex trafficking is no joke. Cyntoia Brown, a young teenager at the age of 16, ran away from her adoptive family in the year of 2004. Cyntoia met a 43-year-old man who soon bought her for sex. The 43-year-old man was Johnny Michael Allen. He took her to his home and showed her his guns and started to become violent with her. Cyntoia, scared for her life, took a gun, that she had in her purse, and shot him in the back of the head. The next day on August 7, 2004, the police found his body after a 911 call. He was undressed and was lying face down in his bed.
On August 8, 2004, the cops found Allen’s white pick up truck, including Cyntoia who was living in a hotel under the name “cutthroat” and Cyntoia was soon arrested due to her connection to the shooting. She had taken Allen’s wallet and some of his guns. Later she was taken to court, and anyone that was against Cyntoia stated that it was a robbery. Cyntoia was charged as an adult with first-degree murder felony murder and an aggravated robbery. She was soon sentenced to 51 years in a Tennessee prison.
Due to the situation, many people think that Cyntoia was sentenced to prison and treated differently because of her skin color. April Kincaid, a U.S. History teacher at Unis Middle School, thinks “this is more a case of age than color. Cyntoia was 16 and Johnny was 43 at the time he approached her and paid her for sex”. “Her color only becomes the topic because we are left wondering would a 16-year-old white girl possibly have been shown more compassion in the same situation?” Kincaid questioned. Compared to Cyntoia, white girls who were caught into the same situation were left to be free and not charged for anything.
Rima Fakih, a college student at Henry Ford college in her freshman year, mentioned that “I visited Tennessee once because my cousins had lived there. My fourth day there I heard that a young girl named Cyntoia Brown was sentenced to prison for 51 years and why”. “I had heard many theories on why she was sentenced this long while my trip there about Brown”. Some people still think it was because of color.
Cyntoia, now 31 years old, after being in prison for 15 years was granted clemency and will be out of prison on August 7, 2019. Brown “lit up” with joy after hearing the news from her lawyer Charles W. Bone, who told her that she’s leaving in August. Cyntoia’s story went worldwide and got attention from many celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, and Drake, that ended up supporting her.
In conclusion, Cyntoia will be soon out of prison and gets to live her life that she never had the chance to because of the situation she had gotten into. Sex trafficking should not be allowed and it needs to be solved as soon as possible.
-Issraa Fakih