[cure-news] New Jersey Lawmakers To Consider Apology For Slavery

[Ida Hakim]

New Jersey Lawmakers To Consider Apology For Slavery
By TOM HESTER Jr.

Associated Press

January 2, 2008

TRENTON, N.J. ?

New Jersey would become the first northern state and the fifth state 
overall to apologize for slavery under a measure to be considered this 
week by state lawmakers.

"This is not too much to ask of the state of New Jersey," said 
Assemblyman William Payne, who sponsors the bill. "All that is being 
requested of New Jersey is to say three simple words: We are sorry."

Legislators in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia have 
issued formal slavery apologies.

"If former Confederate states can take action like this, why can't a 
northeast state like New Jersey?" asked Payne, D-Essex.

But Republican lawmakers wonder if it would be relevant.

"Who living today is guilty of slave holding and thus capable of 
apologizing for the offense?" asked Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris. 
"And who living today is a former slave and thus capable of accepting 
the apology? So how is a real apology even remotely possible, much less 
meaningful, given the long absence of both oppressor and victim?"

But Payne said a New Jersey apology would comfort black residents and 
set an example for other states.

"Slavery was an evil and shameful practice, and New Jersey should 
profess remorse for its past involvement," he said.

The measure is set for a Thursday hearing by the Assembly Appropriations 
Committee. It hasn't received Senate consideration but must be adopted 
by Tuesday, when the legislative session expires.

It's proposed as a resolution, which is used to express the 
legislature's opinion and requires no gubernatorial action.

New Jersey has 8.7 million residents. Of those, 14.5 percent are black.

According to the proposal, New Jersey had one of the largest slave 
populations in the northern colonies, was the last northern state to 
free slaves and was the last northeast state to abolish slavery, doing 
so in 1846.

The proposed resolution expresses "profound regret for the state's role 
in slavery and apologizes for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its 
aftereffects in the United States of America."

It states that in New Jersey, "the vestiges of slavery are ever before 
African-American citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the 
subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting 
business, buying a home, seeking quality public education and college 
admission, and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities."