Dottie Goes to Naperville Training Executive Level Law Enforcement
I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity. I get butterflies in my stomach before each training session because I know the training will take a life of its own in police departments across the US.
I am off to Napierville, Illinois near Chicago to train Executive Level Law Enforcement from around the United States. Several years ago, someone at the White House saw a film I was in, The Cantinera. This is a documentary about women who sell beer in cantinas. The film's creator and producer Ruth Villatoro, heard of women selling beer and thought to herself, why would women want to do that? So, being a documentary filmmaker, she went to find the answer to her question.
She quickly met a woman, Lilyana, whose mother sold her into the cantinas when Lilyana was just a middle school student. Lilyana was a US Citizen, whose mother took her out of school to “work” in the cantinas of Houston. This meant that Lilyana was expected to entertain men, encourage them to buy overpriced beers, and then pay extra for sex. In the shadow of Houston’s gleaming downtown this happens often.
Villatoro spent two and a half years trying to finish Lilyana’s story. On her journey to find the answer to her original question, Villatoro found me. I was able to introduce her not only to others, like Lilyana but to the locations, methods and characters that made this trade in child souls flourish.
While assisting Villatoro I was able to rescue another victim of the cantinas who we found on a hidden video of the operation. Certain details will never be public, some I have purposely forgotten, but what I remember that hurts the most is that they were all hidden in plain sight, disguised in the apathy that surrounded them. This is the apathy that loves and breathes in Houston.
I was born in Houston, I love that city, however love is not enough. Houston is my abusive boyfriend; I want so much for him to change but he just keeps doing the same thing and punishes me for calling him out. I genuinely want better, but we are not there yet. I love this film because it shows why I feel this way and why I use this example of a toxic relationship.
However, one of the many satisfactory results of the film was that someone in the White House saw it and suggested that I work with a wonderful program that trains Executive Level Law Enforcement Officers.
I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity. I get butterflies in my stomach before each training session because I know the training will take a life of its own in police departments across the US. These officials have dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of officers. So, each time I train the effect is completely exponential!
While I wish The Cantinera never had to be made, Nevertheless I take it with me everywhere I train.
See you soon Chicago and Napierville!!