NEWARK, NJ — A reparations council in the Garden State continues to hold public outreach sessions as it explores racial inequality caused by slavery.
The New Jersey Reparations Council, convened last September by the Newark-based New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ), has been exploring the history and impact of slavery in the state.
The council is composed of nine committees, each of which is researching a different aspect of the “enduring impact of slavery in New Jersey.” The committees include: History of Slavery in New Jersey; Public Narrative & Memory; Economic Justice; Segregation in New Jersey; Democracy; Public Safety & Justice; Health Equity; Environmental Justice; and Faith and Black Resistance.
The council’s Faith & Black Resistance in New Jersey committee will hold a virtual public session to discuss its work at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11. Participants can watch the workshop on Zoom or on the NJISJ YouTube channel.
The council is set to present its findings and its recommendations on Juneteenth in 2025.
According to the council’s website, here’s what its goals and mission are:
“New Jersey has been called the ‘slave state of the North’ for its deep involvement in and commitment to slavery. A direct line can be drawn from that history to today, when despite being one of the most racially diverse states in America, New Jersey is home to some of the nation’s worst racial disparities in the areas of wealth, health, education and incarceration. New Jersey’s difficult reality was designed during our founding as a colony when English settlers were given 150 acres of land plus an additional 150 acres for each enslaved African they brought with them, while enslaved Africans were barred from owning land. While slavery finally ended in New Jersey in 1866, its impact did not. Generations of racist policies followed, including the cottager system; racially restrictive deeds; denial of GI benefits to Black people; redlining; and mass incarceration. These practices compounded over time, leading to, among other inequities, New Jersey’s staggering $300,000 racial wealth gap, itself designed during slavery. Because this racial inequality was created by policy design during slavery and into the present, so must be its repair. The New Jersey Reparations Council is the first step.”
“What should reparations look like? It should look like anything and everything to repair the harm,’” Rutgers Law professor and Graduate School-Newark Dean Taja-Nia Henderson previously said.
“Right now, we’re articulating what that harm looks like,” said Henderson, who serves as co-chair of the council.