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Friday May 16th, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution that requires any company doing business with the city to disclose if it earned profits from historic slavery. The resolution is similar to a state law that requires insurance companies to disclose if they ever sold policies on slaves, and is a progressive step in recovering the hidden history of African American slavery, and possible step toward reconciliation and reparations.
The resolution, however, neglects to address the problem of contemporary slavery in Los Angeles, one of the centers of the modern slave trade.
Slavery, though outlawed, exists today in the U.S. According to a 1999 report, there are an estimated 50,000 slaves in this country, primarily Asian and Latin, but also some others. These aren't merely undocumented immigrants working for "slave wages" but individuals trafficked into the country, denied freedom of movement, and forced to work. The best known situation is women and girls forced into prostitution, but men are trafficked as well, and other forced labor include domestic work and factory work. The most notable slavery case in local history was the 1995 discovery, and prosecution, of a Thai owned slave sweatshop in El Monte, a predominantly Latin and Asian suburb east of Los Angeles. (A listing of recent slavery cases.)
Slavery also exists as part of the fabric of globalization, existing at the intersection of global poverty, immigration law, sexism, and labor. Recent discoveries include cocoa farming in West Africa, religious slavery castes, sweatshops in the Pacific Islands, prostitutes from Eastern Europe, domestic workers in the Middle East, and widespread global trafficking of children. (Though not discussed in this short feature, you can click for information about wartime slavery of Koreans and Chinese for Japanese military and corporations, and American POWs enslaved in Viet Nam, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers who assist Mexicans trafficked to work in tomato fields, or mail order brides.)
For a quick education in human trafficking, read the FAQ at Stop Human Traffic.
For an educational kit about historic slavery, read Breaking the Silence: Learning about the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
UN Issues Page on Slavery.
For an excellent research report on trafficking in women and children, see International Trafficking of Women to the United States.
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