New Jersey could soon be forced to face the legacy of slavery in the state. “More than half of New Jerseyans do not know slavery happened in New Jersey,” noted Rev. Charles Boyer, quoting stats from a Rutgers University and New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) poll conducted last year.
“One of the original sins of this state has been buried so deeply that most people don’t know it happened, added Boyer, the founder of the Black faith-based advocacy organization Salvation and Social Justice. “That’s intentional. We can’t repair what we refuse to remember, and we cannot remember what we have never been taught. As a pastor, I know that an apology is not about words. Anybody can say, ‘I’m sorry.’ The real question is, what are you willing to do after the apology?”
In 2008, the state of New Jersey officially said it had “profound regret for its role in slavery.” But today’s politicians and public policy advocates want the state to do more to make amends for its role in enslaving Black people.
During a June 18 virtual press conference put together by NJISJ, they spoke about New Jersey’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Repair Act, a bill activists hope will force a fuller public accounting of New Jersey’s role in the enslavement of Africans and what the end of slavery left behind: segregated schools, redlined neighborhoods, racialized poverty, health disparities, mass incarceration, and the state’s massive Black-white wealth gap.
“In 2008, an apology was given,” acknowledged Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, chair of the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus and sponsor of the bill in the Assembly. “But we’re here in 2025, and that just wasn’t enough for us.” She said the state has enough evidence, including wealth disparity data and a Reparations Council report, to know that an apology without action cannot end the disparities that still curtail Black life in New Jersey.
“Our democratic institutions are under attack while teaching about the history of slavery, race, and racism are being outlawed in silence,” added State Sen. Angela McKnight, who represents Legislative District 31 and is the primary Senate sponsor of the bill, which was introduced on June 15. “Each and every day, it’s important that the state –– the state of New Jersey –– take up this slack to teach the unvarnished truth to the people that we serve. We need to be an example for the rest of the nation, because teaching the truth of our history is key to multiracial democracy flourishing.”
If passed, the bill would require the legislature to officially admit to and apologize for New Jersey’s role in slavery and for how state and federal policies made it harder for Black people to prosper after enslavement.
It would also require education officials, through the state’s Amistad Commission, to include information from the Reparations Council in school lessons so students learn about New Jersey’s slavery history and how it affects Black life today. The state would then need to take documented action to repair past harms, such as changing its procurement rules, supporting Black businesses, creating wealth-building programs, improving community health, and setting up a public dashboard to track its progress.
Reynolds-Jackson said putting together a dashboard is essential because repair cannot be symbolic. “Without accountability, there is no mechanism,” she said. She called for investments in preventive health, lead remediation, education, housing, and communities that have been overlooked for generations.
Henal Patel, NJISJ’s interim president and CEO, said the Truth, Reconciliation, and Repair Act is the next logical step for advocates after attempts to establish a state reparations task force failed in 2019. California, New York, and Illinois have each established official statewide commissions to study the historical harms of African enslavement and systemic racism. According to the African American Redress Network, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and North Carolina have had statewide proposals introduced to create similar commissions.
When the effort to create one failed in New Jersey, the Institute organized the New Jersey Reparations Council, which last year issued the report, “For Such a Time as This: The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey.” That report listed more than 90 policy recommendations and documented how African enslavement and later racist policies have institutionalized inequality.
“New Jersey likes to see itself as progressive and forward-looking, and in many ways it is, yet Black people in New Jersey endure some of the deepest racial disparities in the nation,” Patel said. “One of the country’s most prosperous and racially diverse states is also one of its most inequitable, with a staggering $643,000 racial wealth gap.”
The Truth, Reconciliation, and Repair Act will need at least 41 votes in the Assembly and 21 in the Senate, plus the governor’s signature to get passed, Reynolds-Jackson noted. Advocates are encouraging residents to contact their legislators by phone, text, and email to call for support for the bill.
