Los Angeles County has begun presenting a statement at public meetings recognizing a collective debt to enslaved people, immigrant laborers and other workers, raising questions about how the declaration was adopted and whether it represents an official countywide policy.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Los Angeles County officials have begun incorporating a declaration about historical and modern labor exploitation into public meeting proceedings, asserting that American institutions owe a collective debt to workers whose contributions helped establish the nation’s economic wealth.
The statement, titled “Labor Acknowledgment,” addresses slavery, immigrant labor, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and contemporary prison labor. It also argues that the economic consequences of past exploitation continue to affect the wealth available to subsequent generations.
The document has attracted public attention after investigative reporter Austen Hufford of City Journal identified its use during a county meeting. Hufford questioned why a government body was presenting the declaration to residents without an evident public discussion of its content or adoption.
In footage Hufford circulated on X, a prerecorded version of the statement is heard during a Los Angeles County proceeding. The recording includes Veronica Lewis, who serves on the county’s Public Social Services Commission.
The acknowledgment published on a Los Angeles County government website begins by asserting that the economic foundation of the United States remains connected to uncompensated labor.
“Most modern-day U.S. institutions have benefited from the unaddressed legacy of stolen labor at the foundation of this nation and its vast and inequitable wealth,” the declaration states.
The statement then recognizes the contributions of enslaved African people and characterizes the historical relationship as an obligation that continues into the present.
“We respectfully acknowledge our debt to the enslaved people, primarily of African descent, whose labor and suffering built and grew the economy and infrastructure of a nation that refused to recognize their humanity,” it continues.
Although the county-hosted document establishes that the declaration is available through an official government website, questions remain about the administrative process through which it was introduced.
The specific meeting date has not been conclusively identified, and publicly available information does not establish which county official or governing body authorized the statement’s use.
It is also unclear whether the acknowledgment has been formally adopted throughout Los Angeles County government or is being used by individual boards, commissions or departments.
The distinction matters because the county oversees a substantial network of government agencies and advisory bodies, each operating under different administrative procedures.
The presence of an acknowledgment at one public meeting does not necessarily establish that every county agency has been directed to recite it.
Lewis, whose appearance is associated with the recording, is listed among the members of the county’s Public Social Services Commission. The commission advises officials on matters involving public assistance programs and the delivery of social services.
No publicly documented commission vote or countywide directive establishing the labor acknowledgment as a mandatory opening statement was identified in the available records.
The declaration’s language closely resembles material previously published by Solid Ground, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that provides housing assistance, food access programs and other social services.
The organization maintains a labor acknowledgment on its website with substantially the same language addressing enslaved Africans, Indigenous populations, immigrant workers, Japanese American incarceration and the use of prison labor.
Solid Ground describes its acknowledgment as part of a broader commitment to addressing economic inequality and historical discrimination.
The nonprofit’s statement includes references to migrant workers employed in farms and canneries throughout the Pacific Northwest, a regional detail that also appears in the Los Angeles County document.
That geographic reference is significant because it suggests the California version may have been adapted from language originally developed for an organization operating in Washington state.
Solid Ground introduced its acknowledgment publicly in September 2022, several years before the Los Angeles County recording attracted attention.
The nonprofit is organized as a tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and has operated for decades.
According to figures cited from its most recent available federal tax filings, Solid Ground reported approximately $7.95 million in revenue and $5.37 million in expenses.
Those figures concern the organization’s overall finances and do not establish that Los Angeles County paid the nonprofit to prepare or distribute the acknowledgment.
Neither the county nor Solid Ground has publicly documented an agreement concerning the adoption of the language.
The statement itself goes beyond recognizing the historical institution of slavery by asserting that contemporary economic activity continues to depend on forms of labor exploitation.
“We recognize that our economy continues to rely on the exploited labor of incarcerated people, largely people of color, who earn pennies an hour while generating billions in goods and services each year,” the declaration states.
That passage addresses the use of incarcerated workers in correctional systems, where compensation and participation requirements vary by jurisdiction and program.
Prison labor remains a subject of legal and political debate because incarcerated individuals may receive wages substantially below those paid to workers outside correctional facilities.
The acknowledgment treats those practices as part of a broader historical pattern involving unequal compensation and limited economic opportunity.
It also asserts that many people have been prevented from receiving the full economic benefits associated with their labor.
The declaration concludes by connecting the loss of compensation and economic opportunity to the wealth available to future generations.
“We acknowledge that the theft of labor is the theft of generational progress. Nearly all people of color have been robbed of the opportunity and wealth that their ancestors might otherwise have passed on to them.”
Those statements represent the acknowledgment’s interpretation of American economic history and its continuing consequences. They do not establish a legal debt owed by Los Angeles County residents or create a financial obligation by themselves.
The language also differs from a conventional historical statement by employing collective terms such as “our debt” and “our collective community.”
That approach has raised questions about whether government acknowledgments should recognize documented historical events without assigning shared moral or economic responsibilities to present-day populations.
The underlying historical events referenced in the document include slavery, forced labor, discriminatory immigration practices and government actions that deprived particular communities of property or personal liberty.
The acknowledgment specifically addresses the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime following a lawful conviction.
“While the 13th Amendment to the Constitution technically ended ‘slavery’ in the U.S., we know that slavery’s ongoing impacts are still felt by countless people forced – through violence, threats, and coercion – to work in the U.S.”
The amendment was ratified in December 1865, formally ending constitutionally protected slavery throughout the country while preserving the exception involving criminal punishment.
The county’s language uses the word “technically” to distinguish the amendment’s legal abolition of slavery from continued concerns about forced labor, trafficking and other coercive practices.
The historical discussion also reaches beyond the institution of slavery in the American South.
California entered the Union as a free state on Sept. 9, 1850, under the Compromise of 1850, following congressional disagreements over the expansion of slavery into territories acquired after the Mexican-American War.
However, California’s designation as a free state did not eliminate all forms of coerced labor or discrimination within its borders. Indigenous communities, Chinese immigrants and other groups faced discriminatory laws and practices during the state’s development.
Chinese immigrant workers played an important role in constructing railroads that connected the American West to the rest of the country.
The acknowledgment includes those workers among the populations whose labor contributed to national economic expansion while their communities experienced legal restrictions and unequal treatment.
It also recognizes Indigenous people whose labor was exploited during periods of colonization and territorial development.
Another passage addresses Japanese Americans who lost homes, businesses and personal property after the federal government ordered their removal from designated areas during World War II.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, authorizing military commanders to establish exclusion zones that ultimately led to the forced removal and incarceration of approximately 122,000 people of Japanese ancestry.
Many were American citizens, and federal authorities did not charge them with crimes before their confinement.
The government later acknowledged the injustice of the program. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 authorized an official apology and compensation for surviving individuals who had been incarcerated.
The Los Angeles County declaration includes that history in its discussion of workers and families deprived of property, earnings and economic opportunity.
It also recognizes laborers from the Philippines, Mexico, Central America and South America, including those who worked in agriculture and food-processing industries.
These references connect the acknowledgment to longstanding debates about immigration, wages, labor protections and economic participation.
The introduction of a labor acknowledgment follows Los Angeles County’s earlier adoption of statements recognizing the history of the land on which county institutions operate.
The Board of Supervisors has used a land acknowledgment during public meetings to recognize Indigenous communities and the consequences of colonization.
A September 2025 Board of Supervisors meeting transcript documents the county’s established practice of acknowledging Indigenous peoples and historical events involving displacement, disease, slavery and other harms.
The land acknowledgment refers to broken agreements, genocide and multigenerational trauma associated with the treatment of Indigenous populations.
Such statements have become increasingly common among public institutions, universities, museums and nonprofit organizations.
Their stated purpose is generally to recognize historical relationships between institutions, geographic locations and the communities affected by previous government policies.
However, institutions differ in whether acknowledgments are adopted through formal legislative votes, administrative directives or decisions by individual departments.
Los Angeles County previously included the development of a formal land acknowledgment within its cultural policy planning.
The county Department of Arts and Culture’s Countywide Cultural Policy Strategic Plan, published in 2022, addressed cultural equity and the recognition of Indigenous history.
The plan did not establish an equivalent countywide labor acknowledgment requirement.
That difference leaves unanswered questions about whether the newer labor statement emerged through the same policy development process or through an independent decision by another county entity.
The issue has also surfaced in other American cities, although the outcome has not always been the same.
In Denver, Councilwoman Shontel Lewis proposed adding a labor acknowledgment to the City Council’s opening proceedings.
The proposal would have required the council to recognize the historical contributions of enslaved Africans and the continuing effects of slavery and racial segregation.
As The Post Millennial reported during consideration of the proposal, the measure generated disagreements about whether a government acknowledgment should focus specifically on slavery or include additional populations affected by labor exploitation.
Some council members argued that Japanese Americans, Indigenous communities and immigrant workers should also receive recognition.
Lewis opposed broadening the proposal, explaining that the community organizations she had consulted wanted the statement to remain focused on the experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
The disagreement ultimately prevented the measure from advancing.
Lewis withdrew the Denver proposal in late September, after concluding that the supporting community coalition did not favor expanding its scope.
The Denver proposal had been intended to supplement an existing land acknowledgment that recognizes the Indigenous peoples associated with the region.
Its withdrawal illustrates how disagreements over the language, scope and purpose of historical acknowledgments can arise even among officials who support recognizing past injustices.
The Los Angeles County statement differs from Denver’s proposal because it already includes several populations and labor systems within a single declaration.
Its broader scope encompasses the historical experiences of enslaved Africans, Chinese railroad workers, Indigenous populations, Japanese Americans and immigrant agricultural laborers.
It also addresses contemporary prison labor, connecting historical exploitation to economic activity occurring today.
The statement does not identify specific policies the county intends to adopt in response to the collective obligations it describes.
Nor does it establish a compensation program, reparations fund or other financial mechanism connected to its assertions about inherited economic inequality.
Its immediate function appears to be ceremonial and educational, although the extent of its official adoption remains uncertain.
For county residents, the unresolved questions concern the origins of the document, which government body approved its presentation and whether members of the public were given an opportunity to comment before it became part of official proceedings.
Those issues are separate from the documented historical events addressed in the acknowledgment.
Government bodies frequently recognize historical events through resolutions, proclamations and ceremonial statements, but the procedures for adopting those statements differ according to the institution involved.
In Los Angeles County, the public recording establishes that the labor acknowledgment has been presented during at least one county proceeding, while the official document confirms the availability of its wording through a government-hosted resource.
The available records do not establish that the Board of Supervisors formally voted to require the declaration across all county meetings.
They also do not demonstrate that county residents are being asked to make payments or accept legal responsibility for the historical practices identified in the document.
The statement nevertheless represents an expansion of the historical and economic themes addressed during some public meetings, moving beyond the recognition of Indigenous land to assertions about labor exploitation and collective economic obligations.
Whether Los Angeles County will formally standardize the practice, revise the language or disclose additional information about its adoption remains to be determined.
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