Video: Margaret Prescod – Yes on Prop K
Margaret Prescod, Every Mother is a Working Mother and Black Coalition Fighting Back Seriel Murders
“Racist implementation of the law means that for sex workers on the street it is Black and Brown women who will be first arrested.
There is an economic crisis going on in this country and the millions of dollars going into criminalising sex work should be used instead to uplift women and sex workers and whole communities..
Some people say that prop K [to decriminalize sex work] will allow trafficking but this is totally false. The raids that are targeting immigrant sex workers are ICE [immigration] raids. Yet when it comes to raiding sex workers they say they are going after traffickers.”
Prop K
Prop K is an anti-racist measure; women of color are disproportionately arrested and jailed under the prostitution laws. Black and Brown women often have fewer resources, are more likely to work the streets and therefore are more vulnerable to violence.
Prop K ends criminalization, which means no criminal record for being a sex worker. This makes it easier for those who want to get out of prostitution to do so and find another job.
Decriminalization works! Those who oppose Prop K leave out the fact that in other countries where sex work has been decriminalized, for example in New Zealand, there has been no increase in prostitution, and sex workers report that they feel safer, more able to insist on their rights, and to report violence to the police.