Fight For Slavery Reparations Endures In NJ As Wealth Gap Widens

NEWARK, NJ – A long-running push for slavery reparations continues in the Garden State.

The New Jersey Reparations Council recently gathered for a Juneteenth forum at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, releasing an update about its two-year effort to study the state’s “deep but often overlooked history of slavery.”

New Jersey authorized the enslavement of more than 12,000 Black people between 1630 and 1866, the council reported. This “brutal system” leveraged more than two centuries of unpaid labor to build New Jersey into one of the wealthiest states in America – and it’s a history of inequality that persists today.

According to a recent study from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ), the median household wealth of white families in New Jersey is $662,500, compared to less than $20,000 for Black and Latina/o families. A massive inequality in homeownership was cited as one of the major reasons behind the “staggering” gap.

• See Related: Racial Wealth Gap Is Ballooning In NJ, Study Finds
• See Related: Race, Wealth And Homeownership: New Jersey Still Seeing Troubling Gaps

At their June 19 forum, the New Jersey Reparations Council put a spotlight on a new report that outlines their research into the possibility of reparations – and recommendations about what they might look like.

Read the full report here.

“In the turbulence of today lies an opportunity to build something new – a new New Jersey where Black people are truly free and empowered to flourish and where all residents benefit from our state’s wealth and opportunity,” said Ryan Haygood, president and CEO of the NJISJ.

“This report will serve as a blueprint for New Jersey to finally repair that harm and live up to its ideals – to be a state of true equity where Black people and all of us can flourish,” Haygood said.

Watch footage from the reparation council’s Juneteenth forum here.

WHO SHOULD GET REPARATIONS?

According to the council, all Black people in New Jersey should be able to qualify for slavery reparations.

“Because slavery harmed both enslaved and free Black people, and because segregation and institutional racism have harmed descendants of enslaved people as well as Black people who arrived in New Jersey well after slavery, all Black people in New Jersey are eligible for reparations,” the council argued.

“We understand that there are committed advocates who wish to limit reparations only to the descendants of enslaved Black people,” the council added. “We acknowledge that position, even as we articulate a broader, more inclusive, vision.”

• See Related: Disabled Americans Deserve ‘Reparations,’ Rutgers Expert Says

REPARATION PAYMENTS: HOW MUCH?

According to the council, reparations should include direct payments from the state of New Jersey to Black people.

“The racial wealth gap in New Jersey is a staggering $642,800,” the council’s report states. “Economists agree that the racial wealth gap is more of a ‘gulf,’ impossible to bridge through wage earning and individual economic advancement. The only way to close the racial wealth gap – and address other post-slavery harms – is through direct payments to Black individuals.”

How much money is due? That’s a question that history can help answer, the report suggested.

The council pointed to the period between 1806 and 1811, when New Jersey provided nearly $1 million in current dollars in reparations to compensate enslavers under the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1804 – until it nearly led the state into bankruptcy.

In one year during that reparations program, New Jersey’s payments to enslavers accounted for nearly 30 percent of the state’s budget, the report says.

“Enslavers were the beneficiaries of both the wealth acquired from the stolen labor of enslaved Black people, and the reparations paid to enslavers,” the council said. “Both types of wealth were then passed on to the enslavers’ descendants.”

“The state should use the approximately $1 million paid to enslavers as a data point to determine, along with additional research and analysis, the debt owed to the descendants of enslaved people,” advocates said.

More research will be required to determine the correct formula for calculating these payments, the council added.

As for closing the state’s current wealth gap, that’s another debate altogether, advocates said:

“The council has determined the estimated direct payments New Jersey should pay in reparations to Black people to close the racial wealth gap are as following: 1) the individual racial wealth gap: $178,000 to each Black person; or 2) the household wealth gap: $642,800 to each Black family. This would require an investment of approximately $263 billion to close the racial wealth gap for Black individuals in the state, or $363 billion to close the racial wealth gap for Black families.”

Think that raising hundreds of billions of dollars is impossible? It may not be as farfetched as you imagine, advocates say.

“For perspective, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, New Jersey lawmakers passed the Economic Recovery Act of 2020, which included $14 billion in corporate tax breaks,” the council reported.

“This corporate welfare package was enacted in less than a week, even as the state’s major, Black-led organizations warned that prioritizing corporate subsidies during the crisis would eclipse critical funding needs for Black people in this state,” the council said.

POLICY CHANGES

However, these payments alone aren’t enough to make up for more than 200 years of oppression, advocates argued.

“They must be implemented in tandem with transformational policies that change systems in order to create sustainable and lasting institutional change, change the conditions that perpetuate racial disparities and prevent the recurrence of injustices,” the council charged.

Some of their policy suggestions include:

AFFORDABLE HOUSING – Expand affordable homeownership, with a focus on Black families. Encourage the development of high-quality affordable houses near public transportation throughout the state by allocating more of the budget to support the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Significantly increase and expand financial support for the First-Generation Home Buyers Program that provides first-time home buyers with down payment assistance. To redress the stolen opportunity occasioned by slavery and its enduring legacy, New Jersey must prioritize homeownership for Black residents.”

AMEND NJ CONSTITUTION – “New Jersey courts have long recognized that Art 1, Par. 1 of the New Jersey Constitution guarantees equal protection through its “natural and unalienable rights” provision. Indeed, this provision is “more expansive language than that of the United States Constitution.” However, New Jersey should go even further and recognize a need for race-conscious remedies. In the absence of courts recognizing this, the state must add a constitutional amendment reflecting the Fourteenth Amendment’s original purpose, which would empower the state legislature to enact race-conscious remedies to remedy policies that produce a disparate impact and other racial disparities. This should be accompanied by a transformed federal constitutional interpretation that is consistent with this.”

END INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE – “New Jersey need not wait for a federal constitutional convention to abolish involuntary servitude for persons convicted of crime. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolishes slavery, includes an exception for those “duly convicted” of crime. Since ratification, this provision has been used as a shield against claims that forcing incarcerated people to labor for low or no pay is unconstitutional. New Jersey should follow the examples of Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Colorado, Nebraska, Utah and Rhode Island and ban the involuntary labor of convicted people.” See Related: Slavery Still Exists In America’s Prisons, New Jersey Senator Says

INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE – “Increasing the minimum wage to an indexed living wage will provide a financial foundation for working people in New Jersey to better meet daily needs, build wealth and improve their overall well-being. New Jersey should also close all the current loopholes in the minimum wage law so that minimum wage is the same for all employees, including tipped workers. Indexing the wage for inflation will ensure that the minimum wage maintains its value over time.” See Related: NJ Raises Minimum Wage To $15 – But It Still Isn’t Enough To Live On

GUARANTEED INCOME – “Freedom from economic deprivation should be a minimum threshold for each resident of New Jersey. Poverty is closely linked to poor health outcomes, as it limits access to quality healthcare, nutritious food and safe housing. In one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest country in the world, a guaranteed income will help ensure that all people and families in the state are able to meet their basic needs. Guaranteed income will support economic inclusion for all residents, but particularly Black New Jerseyans, who have been excluded from the drivers of wealth building in the state and are more likely to live in poverty than their white peers.” See Related: NJ's Largest City Gave 400 People 'Guaranteed Income' – Here's What Happened

UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE – “Research shows that inadequate, or inaccessible, comprehensive health insurance coverage contributes to significantly worsened health outcomes for Black New Jerseyans, who are more likely to be uninsured and underinsured and less likely to have employer-provided insurance. Even when Black people do have access to care, it is more often of lower quality compared to white people. Equal treatment and broad access to comprehensive health insurance will help to reduce racial disparities and promote Black overall health in New Jersey.”

SCHOOL SEGREGATION – “New Jersey is the seventh most segregated state in the nation for Black students, with 25% of Black students attending schools where the non-student population is between 90 to 99% non-white. With few exceptions, New Jersey law currently requires public school students to attend school within district boundaries,1068 which are often tied to municipal boundaries. New Jersey’s long history and persistence of government-imposed and government-supported residential segregation has left fierce and entrenched segregation in its classrooms causing higher suspension and expulsion rates, higher drop-out rates, lower test scores and lower rates of college attendance and graduation as discussed in the report. To repair this enduring harm, New Jersey must eliminate the requirement that students attend school within their school districts.”

PROTECT HOME RENTERS – “About 60% of Black people are renters. As such, New Jersey must expand protections for tenants. New Jersey has a rent stabilization law and the Fair Chance in Housing Act. However, New Jersey should consider other tenant protections such as creating universal, transferable rental applications and banning algorithmic rent-setting and discriminatory tenant screening software.”

BOOST IMMIGRANTS – “Provide basic resources for immigrants. Expand access to health care and education to all immigrants regardless of status and invest in community support of immigrant communities.”

LET INMATES VOTE – “New Jersey’s continued law banning all people with criminal convictions from voting while incarcerated serves to disproportionately disenfranchise Black people. In New Jersey, 61% of incarcerated people are Black. The state must restore the right to vote for all people who are currently incarcerated in New Jersey and otherwise eligible to vote.” See Related: Inspiring Videos From NJ Ex-Inmates: 'Voting Changed Our Lives'

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