New Jersey would become the first northern state and the fifth state overall to apologize for slavery under a bill to be considered this week.
“This is not too much to ask of the state of New Jersey,” said Assemblyman William Payne, who is sponsoring the bill. “All that is being requested of New Jersey is to say three simple words: ‘We are sorry.’”
Legislators in North Carolina, Alabama, Maryland 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 legislators 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?”
Payne, D-Essex, said an apology would comfort black residents and set an example for other states.
The bill is scheduled for a Thursday hearing by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
It has not received Senate consideration but must be adopted by Tuesday when the legislative session expires.
The North Carolina legislature acted on the slavery-apology issue last spring.
The chief sponsors of the House version, which was approved in early April, were two legislators from Winston-Salem, Democratic Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon.
Several Democrats said at the time that North Carolina needs to take more concrete measures to fight racism and help minorities.
Womble and Parmon, who represent districts that cover much of Winston-Salem, have often supported legislation dealing with past injustices. For instance, they have sponsored bills that would compensate people who were sterilized under the state’s eugenics program in the 20th century.
But the bill has not advanced, and Womble has amended it to remove any specific figure for financial compensation. It would instead only study how much the benefits would cost and how they could be provided.
The status of the study was unclear because the bill authorizing it was folded into an omnibus bill that the Senate declined to take up before the legislative session ended in August.
