Minh Dang grew up in San Jose where she was sexually abused at the age of two and sold as a child into sex slavery at ten by her parents.

During the day, she acted out the life of a regular kid, excelling in school and as an athlete on the soccer field, from elementary school through high school.

At night she was pimped out by her parents and forced to sleep and do sexual favors for men and her own father.

A victim of sex trafficking, she gave a speech about the Campaign Against Human Trafficking on Tuesday May 14, at De Anza College.

“For the first two years I was going to college, I was still enslaved,” Dang said. “I was still being sold by my parents. Then they payed my final bill for college.”

Besides bringing attention to the physical trauma that falls upon human sex trafficking victims, Dang also adressed the emotional poverty that victims endure.

Dang said she believed that her parents were hurt and traumatized as children in their homes in Vietnam, and they used the abuse towards her brother and herself as an outlet for their trauma.

“Using another
human being to make themselves feel better, that’s what my parents did to me,” Dang said.

In spite of her trying experiences, Dang has chosen to pursue a life of freedom.

Today she spends her time as a graduate student studying social work at UC Berkeley and as an activist speaking at different venues about human sex trafficking.

Dang was awarded the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Public Service Award in 2011.

The White House honored Dang as one of 15 Asian American and Pacific Islanders who were “Champions of Change” on May 6 because she helped the U.S. Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking.

Rowena Tomaneng, associate vice president of instruction, said she thought this event was important for De Anza students.

“It’s a really important issue to the De Anza community, in order for students not only to learn about it, but to let them get involved,” said Tomameng.

De Anza student Linh Ton, 21, said, “I really feel sorry for her, and she also made me realize that sex trafficking still happens in this society.”

To learn more about human sex trafficking, and Dang’s journey, follow her blog at http://dontsellbodies.org/tagged/Minh Dang or her Twitter account at @mihnspeakstruth