In putting together this edition I’ve thought about many kinds of slavery; African slavery, African American slavery, Aboriginal slavery, child slavery, sweatshops, the slave trade. Our great monuments were built by slaves, our great walls, our pyramids, hell; even Newcastle was built by convicts doing forced labor.

Slavery makes me angry.

I was feeling tired and angry the other night after spending a day reading slavery articles so I went home to watch TV.

Now I’ve stopped believing in heroes through a gradual process – The Easter Bunny came first, I was seven and on Easter Eve we were on a plane from Singapore to London. When we woke up in the morning Mum was like “Look what the Easter Bunny brought you!” We were sealed in a fast moving jet and she was really pushing it. The Tooth Fairy came next (Honestly what kind of magical creature is so cheap as to go “I know I’ll magic up…$2?”), then Santa (the harshest realization of them all), then God.

But I refuse to relinquish my belief in the dedicated detectives of New York City, the elite squad that deal with crimes considered ‘especially heinous’, The Special Victims Unit. TV drama doesn’t get much better that Law and Order SVU and it was Law and Order SVU that I settled down to watch that night, and guess what? More slavery.

In this episode a little Nigerian boy had been found raped, killed and hacked to pieces, but no-one had even reported him missing.

With some dedicated detective work, it was established that the boy had been bought by the murderous pedophile off a Nigerian slave trader.

This was a particularly emotional case for detective Tutuola (Ice-T) – yes the ex-happypants rapper Ice-T. He looked at the young African slave children and thought about his great, great grandparents. This was personal.

Let me tell you some things about Ice-T Tutuola. He doesn’t take shit from anyone cause he came from the hood, he’s tough and he cares.

When he found that African slave trader he got him on the ground and beat him with his fists. He gave him a lot of facial injuries. Detective Stabler had to pull him off the slave trader. That’s how much Ice-T cares. He didn’t get in trouble for beating up the slave trader because the slave trader was very bad and it’s OK to beat up slave traders.

So, if you see a slave trader (well dressed black man with hankie in top pocket and a price list for small Nigerian children) get him on the ground and keep punching him. Think about Ice-T’s great, great granddaddy.

If there is a shortage of slave traders in your local are and you still want to do something then browse through the articles in this edition and head to some of the suggested websites.