150-22 Resolution - Reparations Task Force Model.pdf

2 of New Jersey introduced the “Slave Code,” which prohibited enslaved Africans and free Africans from owning property and made certain actions, like staying out past curfew, illegal for Black people. Although New Jersey outlawed the importation of enslaved Africans in 1786 and enacted a law in 1804 to abolish slavery gradually, the State Legislature passed “Peace Resolutions” in 1863 denying President Lincoln’s power to emancipate slaves and later voted against the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution; and, WHEREAS, in 1844, New Jersey also restricted access to the ballot box by denying the vote to people with criminal convictions the same year it restricted voting to white men in its Constitution, the first state in the Northeast to do so. While many Northern states abolished slavery following the Civil War, New Jersey opposed the Emancipation Proclamation and was the last Northern state to abolish slavery. Following the Civil War, New Jersey refused to ratify the Reconstruction Amendments; and, WHEREAS, New Jersey’s deep roots in American slavery and its vestiges have endured to the present day. A direct line can be traced from New Jersey’s role in American slavery to its system today of voter suppression, racial wealth disparities, mass incarceration, racial segregation, and crumbling infrastructure in Black communities in New Jersey, such as the current elevated lead levels in water and homes; and, WHEREAS, the full effects of the institution and legacy of slavery on Black people and communities in New Jersey have not been sufficiently examined, nor have there been remedies for past injustice and present harm, or sufficient efforts at transformation; and, WHEREAS, as a result of historic and continued systemic racial discrimination, Black people in New Jersey confront some of the worst racial disparities in America, including but not limited to these areas; and, WHEREAS, access to democracy: New Jersey suffers from racialized voter disenfranchisement, denying the vote to over 100,000 people in prison, on parole, or on probation, according to State data. Over half are Black, though Black people comprise just 15 percent of the State’s population. The racism of the criminal justice system is directly imported into the franchise; and, WHEREAS, youth justice: Generations of Black kids have experienced racism in the youth justice system. Just two

The racism of the criminal justice system is directly imported into the franchise; and, WHEREAS, youth justice: Generations of Black kids have experienced racism in the youth justice system. Just two years after the Civil War, New Jersey opened Jamesburg, its largest youth prison for boys. Today, Black children are almost 18 times more likely to be locked up than white children, the highest disparity rate in America, even though Black and white children commit most offenses at similar rates. As of February 9, 2022, just 11 white children are incarcerated in New Jersey, compared to 65 Black children, according to State data; and, WHEREAS, housing and the racial wealth gap: New Jersey also experienced racially restrictive covenants that prohibited Black people from buying, leasing, or occupying property based on race, and redlining, which targeted Black people who were refused housing loans. That legacy of systemic housing discrimination spills into today’s vast discrepancy in New Jersey home ownership rates: 75.9 percent for white households and 38.4 percent for Black households.