Branding the cows

It's intriguing to see that white Americans are more upset about slavery 150 years ago and tattooed numbers 60 years ago than the combination of them in America's vibrant communities today:

The return of slave-branding: Modern-day sex traffickers are bringing back vile practice as girls tell how they are forced to get a tattoo of their pimp's name or insignia to mark them out as his 'property' Almost all sex traffickers in America now brand their slaves with tattoos.

Crowns, bags of money and pimps' initials are common, police say. Some of the women are even branded with a unique bar code to show who 'owns' them

Just below her collar bone, beneath a bauble necklace, 17-year-old Adriana has a name delicately tattooed in swirly handwriting. It is the name of her owner. At the age of just 14, she was branded by a man named Cream who promised her everything in exchange for 'doing some work'. Beyond the physical abuse and emotional torment, this permanent scar acts as a daily reminder for thousands of women of violence, fear and oppression at the hands of tyrannical pimps.

Police forces have come to recognize certain 'marks' that distinguish victims of the slave trade. Often, a girl will bear a crown with their captor's initials. Dollar signs and bags of money are also common. In many cases the women will have a name tattooed across their body in numerous places - above their groin, down their arm and on her neck. Some are even branded with a unique 'bar code'.

That much-mocked '50s white bread America is looking pretty damned good these days.