It is not difficult to point out the urgent, pressing matters facing the United States in 2016.

Of course it isn’t. Because they are all valid concerns — the idea of a Donald Trump presidency, gun control and abortion are all legitimate entanglements.

But somehow, to my colossal antipathy, outrage and befuddlement, a similarly dire matter has grabbed hold of the country while — somehow — simultaneously flying under the radar: human trafficking.

Human trafficking is, to present it in most elementary terms, the illegal, forced transport of people for the purpose of exploitation. That exploitation often translates to sexual exploitation, prostitution and slavery, accomplished by men who coerce, deceive and abduct women and children.

I should not have to explain this, because it’s such a prevalent issue, but trafficking is rampant in the United States. In Kansas. It’s a problem that slides underneath our noses while our eyes are glued to the TV, scrutinizing presidential hopefuls that will inevitably mislead and disappoint.

So my question is this: what will it take for the dilemma of human trafficking to be recognized in the same light as the issues I listed above? What is it about selling 13 year olds into sexual slavery that the media decides will take a backseat to the chicanery that nearly all the presidential candidates spoon-feed the nation? Why are we not discussing more such a vile practice as human trafficking?

Perhaps it’s because we don’t realize just how ubiquitous trafficking is. I’ll use Kansas as an example, since part of the problem seems to be reluctance to admit how close to home it is. In 2015, according to Polaris, 43 human trafficking cases were reported in Kansas, and 126 Kansas-based calls were placed to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center — and those are just the reported cases.

Heck, two teenage girls in Wichita escaped sex trafficking by a 54-year-old man and a 38-year-old man last November. A man running a sex trafficking ring kidnapped a Kansas City woman and raped her last April. In the same month, two Topeka residents were arrested on aggravated human trafficking charges. The very streets on which we drive to school are the same streets that men deceive teenage girls, kidnap them, then proceed to force sex on them.

But these streets exist worldwide, and they become jampacked this time of year, when the Super Bowl is played. The NFL title game provides an annual hotbed for trafficking, but especially so this year, with the contest hosted in the Bay Area in California. This location, given its three international airports, streamlines the process for pimps to transport victims — all while unsuspecting Americans guzzle Bud Light and roar at the television set within the warm, comfortable confines of a heated house, a practically unlimited supply of food and a reliable source of income.

This is not to excuse myself from the blame. I’m part of the problem too, as I don’t use my voice as much as I should for the purpose of calling attention to this nauseating affair. But I am also confident that the United States’ political leaders could be, but are not, doing their fair share in their attempts to eradicate sex trafficking.

But several organizations exist for this reason: groups like the aforementioned Polaris Project, the EPIK Project, The END IT Movement, and others. All are searchable online and deserve your attention.

In conclusion, I will leave with this question: If we acknowledge the repulsing nature of human trafficking, and the relatively short list of its reported cases within our own state stretches farther than any of us care to learn about, what is holding us back from pushing this issue onto the same platform of national attention that misogynists like Donald Trump stand?