By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act

CNN“Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking,”

In an upcoming CNN special, titled “Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking,” Jada Pinkett Smith will travel to Atlanta – apparently a trafficking hot-spot – to try and unravel the complicated web of human trafficking that’s happening right here in the United States. 

Per CNN, the hour-long special is a gritty, raw look at the human trafficking industry in the United States, the lives of children caught in its web, and those fighting back against this form of modern-day slavery. 

The special will ask and answer pertinent questions like: Where does sex trafficking start? How do girls get manipulated into it? How hard is it for law enforcement and others to save them? And how can communities help protect children from the men and women who prey on their vulnerabilities?

To get answers, Pinkett Smith sits down with survivors who share their horrifying stories of exploitation and triumphs of their survival. Pinkett Smith and CNN follow Sergeant Torrey Kennedy, head of the Internet Crimes Against Children Division, as he conducts undercover raids to arrest suspected traffickers and rescue underage girls. Lisa Williams, founder of a safe house and rehabilitation facility for trafficked teens, is featured as Williams counsels the exploited teen highlighted in the special. And Pinkett Smith comes face-to-face with a convicted female trafficker. Viewers will also hear from aid workers and prosecutors who are working to eradicate this crime. 

“For me, this project is extremely important because I want the world to understand the dangers that every kid in America is susceptible to,” Pinkett Smith says. “Human trafficking is one aspect of the vulnerabilities and obstacles that we are confronted with. People who sell children are monsters.”

“Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking” was executive produced by Jennifer Hyde, the Director of the CNN Documentary Unit, produced by Senior Producer Ken Shiffman, Producer Tina Matherson, Executive Editor of the CNN Freedom Project Leif Coorlim, and overseen by Michael Bass, CNN’s Executive Vice President for Programming.

It airs Tuesday, July 21 at 9pm ET/PT on CNN, CNN International and CNNgo.

Watch a preview below: