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Growing Up As Human Traffic

Flickr photo / Tiggywinkle

Yasmine Christopher was born in Bangladesh. Her dad was a white American, well educated and fairly wealthy. Her mom was a 14-year-old child bride who’d been raised on little more than a diet of a potato a day. Yasmine sensed that her parents were not equals — that her dad lorded his power over the rest of the family — but she didn’t realize how bad things were. Not until her extended family had followed her father to the United States.

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They all moved to a small farm in Grays Harbor County, Washington. Her father had promised them all a better life there. When Yasmine was older, she’d finally recognize her family situation for what it was. She and her Bangladeshi relatives had been slaves. And her father was the master.

More stories from KUOW Presents, Monday, April 22, 2013: