On the Anniversary of Thaddeus' Death

Every year, I turn my pain into purpose to pay tribute to Thaddeus who I grew up with in Connecticut. Like me, he was taken from his homeland. It's said that he was abandoned at a railway station in Kolkata, India and placed in an orphanage. However, the station may have been in Nagpur and not Kolkata. Who's to really know? Thaddeus was reported to be only 5 years old (or maybe 12) and institutionalized at the time. However, what is known is that he was paraplegic and didn't have use of his legs. Shortly after he arrived in the US and learned how to speak a little English, he shared privately with me about his memories in India.

All these years later, I honor his memory by learning more about the truth of what happened to him. It's known that our origin stories are grossly fictionalized and twisted into sales pitches to make us more appealing to potential buyers. This was highlighted in the documentary, One Child Nation, and now has become the focal point of numerous investigations involving falsified records, switching identities and even babies in a global multibillion-dollar child supply market, under the guise and legal protection of the term, "adoption." Thaddeus, like millions of us, is a victim of the human trafficking industry. Is it really a better life from a "street beggar" to being turned into a commodified, disposable person?

The trade off is this so-called "better life" that comes with a price of being owned. As a child, whether he was 5 or 12, it is impossible to fully understand the terms of this slave trade. Each year, in my tributes to Thaddeus as well as Tam and Lark, I attempt to unpack and expose more of the truth of what this industry does to all of us. It's not just a contract or a business, it is a commodification process that involves a transference of ownership. It's more than an erasure of identity, it is turning children into disposable people condemning them to a life of enslavement.

On a deeper more philosophical level, it is a permanent severance from oneself, from the life we're born into, from the natural course of our lives. As children, this is forced upon us and we are told to play along or suffer real consequences of being returned, retrafficked, or left for dead and murdered. Coerced, victimized, and under threat of these consequences, many victims of course obey, while others fight back, or succumb to their pain and end their lives. In the backdrop of colonization, slavery, and human trafficking, how often are our issues brought to light in this context?

To truly honor Thaddeus' life and memory, we must endeavor to know his full life experience, not just his life in America. This includes understanding the industry that exploited him for profit only to be further exploited for someone else's gain. Also, imagine the torment of being out of place and forced into a life, a reality, that shouldn't exist. A life in which no one tells you what has happened to you, or clues you into what you're supposed to do in this life, and are left to figure it out on your own, only to learn through severe consequences. All resulting in a compounding of lifelong trauma and chronic stress on your body, mind, and soul. This level of pain is more than any body can take.

I'm sure many victims can relate to Thaddeus' remarks of gratitude and love, his desire to go into law enforcement. It's quite a common theme... one could say formulaic in an industry that runs us through its standard operating procedure resulting in curiously similar outcomes despite what generation we're from or location in the world. Thaddeus never knew he was a victim of such an industry with this kind of legacy. I can only imagine what he'd say if someone had sat down and explained it to him in this way. However, I have learned this industry has brainwashed all of us and I have come to accept there was no way he'd hear any of this where he lived in Torrington, Connecticut.

Thaddeus was brought into something deeply entrenched in our global society that's historical, cultural, with roots in slavery and colonization involving crimes against humanity, he is now part of a lasting legacy of victims who threaten this multibillion-dollar industry that created them. I continue to weep for him and for the millions of us caught up in this criminal scheme that continues to use us as disposable objects. For what? Profit. Thaddeus' life should never have been for sale. That is the truth for all of us. Please help honor Thaddeus' legacy today and every day. Amplify his story, be his voice, raise public awareness. Thank you, I love you.