150-22 Resolution - Reparations Task Force Model.pdf

3 Because home ownership is a primary driver of wealth, Black and Latino people in New Jersey confront one of the worst racial wealth gaps in America. The median net worth for New Jersey’s white families is $309,000, the highest in the nation. For New Jersey’s Black and Latino families, it is incredibly just $5,900 and $7,020, respectively. New Jersey also leads the nation in home foreclosures, according to ATTOM Data Solutions; and, WHEREAS, racial segregation itself, born from the vestiges of slavery, pervades New Jersey, which, while one of the most racially diverse states in America, is also among the most segregated. New Jersey’s racial diversity and racial segregation, combined with its extreme wealth and punishing poverty, has created in New Jersey’s public classrooms some of the fiercest segregation by race, ethnicity, and income in this country. Nearly half of New Jersey’s Black and Latino students attend schools that are more than 90 percent nonwhite. Almost two- thirds go to schools that are more than 75 percent nonwhite; and, WHEREAS, to address these systemic challenges in New Jersey, the “New Jersey Reparations Task Force” will research, write, and publish a report that will make the case for State-based reparations in New Jersey and outline policy recommendations that seek to repair the harm that has resulted from America’s original sin in the Garden State and its aftermath; and, WHEREAS, it is in the interest of the State and of the people of New Jersey for the government to initiate and foster methods of improving knowledge and understanding between African Americans and other ethnic groups in New Jersey and to adopt and initiate means to foster communication and dialogue, for the purpose of achieving truth, transformation, and reparation. Therefore, it is in the interest of the State and the people of New Jersey to establish the “New Jersey Reparations Task Force” to urge New Jersey to take responsibility for its role in American slavery and its aftermath, and to set forth comprehensive and sweeping policy recommendations aimed to develop profound and reparative financial and other investments in Black communities impacted by New Jersey’s history of systemic racial discrimination; and, WHEREAS, the urgency for the establishment of this task force is compelling. The elder African-American population, some of whom are the grandchildren of

istory of systemic racial discrimination; and, WHEREAS, the urgency for the establishment of this task force is compelling. The elder African-American population, some of whom are the grandchildren of formerly enslaved Black people and can bear direct witness to some of the severest forms of racism and oppression, is advancing in age. As too many generations of Black people have already passed without benefit of any remedies for the injustices they endured, it is important that New Jersey make the establishment of this task force an imperative; and, WHEREAS, it shall be the duty of the “New Jersey Reparations Task Force” to study and develop reparations proposals for Black people in this State. In performing this duty, the commission shall: Identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies that became the United States from 1619 through 1865. The task force’s documentation and examination shall include the facts related to: (a) the capture and procurement of Africans; (b) the transport of Africans to the United States and the colonies that became the United States for the purpose of enslavement, including their treatment during transport; (c) the sale and acquisition of Africans as chattel property in interstate and intrastate commerce; (d) the treatment of African slaves in the colonies and the United States, including the deprivation of their