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Should We Boycott the Downlow?

If you're a student, I'm sure you've received the following email:

Hi everyone,

As many of you have heard, tonight's Bar Review will be taking place at the Down Low on Shattuck. However, many people are unaware that Lakireddy Bali Reddy, the landlord of the Down Low, is a convicted sex trafficker. In 1999, a passerby saw Reddy and a group of his employees trying to put the unconscious body of a 17 year old girl in a van. The girl had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning while living in one of Reddy's apartments. She later died at Alta Bates hospital.

Through this event, school newspaper reporters at Berkeley High uncovered Reddy's criminal activities. Over a 15 year period, Reddy and his family brought an estimated 500 men, women, and young girls (the youngest was 13 years old when she was trafficked) from India to the United States using H1-B visas, convincing them that they would be working as computer programmers in the US.

Instead, Reddy used the immigrants as slave labor for his restaurants and apartment buildings, and used at least three girls as his own personal sex slaves, including the deceased 17 year old girl. During autopsy, the medical examiner found that the 17 year old girl was pregnant with Reddy's child.

Reddy accepted a plea bargain with the Alameda County DA's office for sex trafficking and served 8 years. He was released from prison in 2008. His adult sons were also charged with aiding in sex trafficking. The Reddys own 1,100 apartment units in Berkeley (under names like Reddy Realty, Raj Properties, and Everest Properties), as well as Pasand Restaurant. They are also the landlords of Down Low, so money from Bar Review will go directly towards the Reddys' rental fees.

We wanted to raise awareness about this because many people do not know of these horrifying crimes that took place right here in Berkeley and because the Down Low is a popular spot for Bar Review. We are involved in an effort to raise awareness of human trafficking/modern slavery, and will soon be putting on a week of events centered around anti-trafficking efforts. More information will be released soon.

Thanks for reading. We hope that you will forward this email on to others.

Trafficking weakens legitimate economies, breaks up families, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. It undermines our long-term efforts to promote peace and prosperity worldwide. And it is an affront to our values and our commitment to human rights.
-Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State

Human trafficking is horrible and is a major issue in the US and around the world. However, is boycotting a business that requires a liquor license and leases space (with the attached license) from someone who has been convicted and completed his sentence a legitimate way to address this issue? Most retail clothing companies that are popular among law students use or have used child labor, sweat shop labor, etc. Based on this logic, shouldn't any company that has engaged in this process be boycotted indefinitely? Shouldn't we, by transitivity, also not take money from these companies? Or work for firms who will be using fees for representing these companies to pay associates? Does it make a difference that the guy's been tried, convicted and served his time?

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on February 03, 2011 (boomark / email).