Newark, New Jersey - Ahead of Juneteenth, New Jersey lawmakers have proposed legislation that would apologize and commit to reparations for the harms of slavery and racial discrimination in the state.
New Jersey State Senator Angela McKnight and Assemblymember Verlina Reynolds-Jackson this week introduced The Truth, Reconciliation and Repair Act (A5253/S4459) to acknowledge and "take active accountability to repair" the impacts of human rights violations against Black residents, from the enslavement era through the present day.
The bill calls for a meaningful apology for the state's legacy of enslavement and ongoing harms, deeming a 2008 measure "insufficient" for its lack of "necessary corresponding accountability."
"We have the data, and this legislation helps us finish what we started back in 2008," Reynolds-Jackson said in a press conference on Thursday.
Dubbed the "slave state of the North," New Jersey was the last Northern state to abolish slavery in 1866. Today, the effects still impact Black communities, creating some of the worst racial inequities in the nation.
Lawmakers and advocates on Thursday highlighted the persistence of these inequities as well as new threats to education on Black history.
"We're living today in modern-day slavery," McKnight said, pointing to gross racial disparities in incarceration, maternal mortality, and reading rates.
"We need to teach our children – we need to teach all children and adults – about slavery. We need to teach them about Black history," she insisted.
"We are trying to defend ourselves"
In addition to taking responsibility for systemic discrimination targeting Black residents, the State of New Jersey is urged to prioritize public education.
The bill calls on the Amistad Commission, which is responsible for promoting the inclusion of Black history in the state's public education curriculum, to incorporate the findings of the New Jersey Reparations Council's final report and policy blueprint, released on Juneteenth of last year.
Convened by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the NJRC was composed of dozens of experts organized into nine committees, all dealing with the legacies of enslavement and anti-Black racism in the Garden State. Its resulting 244-page report offers dozens of policy proposals to address long-standing harms.
"The truth is slavery was real. It was ugly. It was devastating," Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said on Thursday. "People would have us believe there is a big gap between slavery and the present day, but the reality is that gap is not as great as people believe. It might be great in time, but in behavior and circumstances, it is very, very short or small."
People's Organization for Progress Chair Larry Hamm said he sees The Truth, Reconciliation and Repair Act as a necessary measure alongside legislation to create a state reparations commission and to protect and expand voting rights.
Advocates urged New Jerseyans to contact their legislators demanding they support the new bill.
"This is a defensive mechanism," Hamm explained. "We are trying to defend ourselves, put up a bulwark against what the federal government wants to do. By passing this bill, it affirms our declaration that Black Studies will be taught in the schools of New Jersey."