Occasionally people ask why we chose the name “Blackbox.” Often, they assume the term refers to that critical recording device on a plane.
An airplane’s blackbox is valuable! The information it contains is so important that, when a plane crashes, rescuers go to incredible lengths to retrieve it. Save the blackbox, no matter the cost!
In a way, Blackbox International has the same philosophy: we rescue boys from the wreckage of sex trafficking. They are most valuable to us because they’re valuable to the God who made them. We’re committed to helping them find hope and healing, no matter the cost.
And yet, even though the analogy works, that isn’t how our name came to be. It began with Executive Director Wade Landers, and it refers to the blackbox of protection across the eyes of the boys in our pictures. Years back, Wade learned that no one was helping boys in the sex trafficking industry, and he felt called to do something.
“I decided that our organization would always protect the boys’ identities with a blackbox over their eyes–but they wouldn’t be hidden behind the box in shame,” Wade said. “In that moment, I realized, ‘There’s a story behind every blackbox…and that story must change.'”