Tajuan McCarty is the director of The Wellhouse, a Christian home for women rescued from the sex industry. She warned that American children are being lured into prostitution, just as happened to her. Birmingham is a hub of prostitution, she said. Parents too often participate in the sexualization of their own children, buying them risque clothing, she said. We won't talk about it, because we're afraid.
Parents who buy daughters underwear labeled "pink" across the bottom are part of the problem, she said. When she was featured on Christian Broadcasting Networks' "The Club" show, McCarty explained how she ran away from home at 15 and was lured into prostitution.
He was really, really nice and a very attractive man and said 'I will teach you how to take care of yourself. Within the first few weeks, Tajuan's pimp taught her how to sell cocaine. But in a short time, his demands increased. Because, he told me I had to come back with more money than I had drugs, so I knew I had to do what I had to do to make the money if I wanted to go 'home. Tajuan eventually became addicted to the drugs supplied by her pimp.
I never looked in my eyes. I just made sure physically I looked the way I was supposed to look, the way I needed to look to do what I needed to do. Her pimp eventually began trafficking her all over the United States. I remember going to the Kentucky Derby, but I never went into the derby. I remember a table of pimps sitting down and talking about the Olympics.
Trafficking, pimping, prostitution, the whole industry is very, very organized. In , she walked into the Birmingham Dream Center, in the former Woodlawn Firehouse, and asked about what they did. And I'm also trying to reach out to the prostitutes in the area. You are going to get hurt Do you know how to do it? Tajuan started helping Lisa at the Dream Center with outreach on a regular basis. I saw what Jesus really, really looked like because of her.
