By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-12 21:26:27 | Updated at 2026-09-12 22:29:34
1 hour ago
Two woke New Jersey Democrats are pushing the state to adopt radical new policy changes — including direct reparations payments to all its black residents — even for those who are not direct descendants of slaves.
“The Truth, Reconciliation, and Repair Act of New Jersey” is cosponsored by Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and state Sen. Angela McKnight, and is seeking to radically transform the state government to compensate for wealth disparities stemming from slavery — which ended in New Jersey 160 years ago.
The bill, first introduced on June 15 which has not yet had a hearing, is informed by a 2025 report from the New Jersey Reparations Council.
“The recent report of the New Jersey Reparations Council tells the often overlooked and largely unknown story of slavery in New Jersey and outlines a clear, compelling, and courageous path forward: the development of meaningful policies that address the racial wealth gap; invest in Black communities; and confrontation of the systemic inequities that still exist in this State,” the proposed bill reads.
That report, entitled “The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey” outlines dozens of potential policy changes that the far-left group wants seeded in the Garden State.
The group claimed in the report that New Jersey was “profoundly shaped by its original sin of slavery” and that the report’s conclusions will lead to “bold and transformative policy.”
“These recommendations are designed to help create a new New Jersey where Black people are empowered to finally be free, to be whole and to flourish,” the preface of the report claimed.
The report calls for reparations for all black New Jersey residents, including for those who are not descendants of enslaved black people via “direct payments” aimed and closed an alleged $642,800 household “racial wealth gap.”
The report is filled with even more hairbrained policy prescriptions.
Some of the dozens of “remedies” include creating a Reparations Bureau; restoring the right to vote to incarcerated people; expanding access to free healthcare to adults, children, and “all immigrants regardless of status;” ending cooperation with federal deportations; and establishing a guaranteed income for all residents in the state.
The bill, soon to be debated in New Jersey, fully endorsed the report which is presented as the basis for the legislation.
The bill also demands the state formally apologize for slavery — something which the state government already did in 2008.
“New Jersey’s 2008 symbolic apology was an important start. New Jersey now moves from symbolism to an apology that leads to accountability. From history to repair,” the bill read.
The bill does not outline which of the policy proposals from “The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey” it would adopt — and seemingly leaves the door open for any number of policy changes.
It demands New Jersey commit to “rectifying the lingering consequences of the wrongs committed against Black people under slavery and Jim Crow and other ongoing harms; stopping the occurrence of human rights violations in the future; and building a new State of New Jersey where Black people can flourish.”
New Jersey was the last northern state to end slavery, ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment in 1866, the year after it was added to the US Constitution.
State Sen. McKnight, who represents Hudson County, previously introduced a bill that would require New Jersey hospitals to ask new parents their newborn’s preferred pronouns and sexual orientation.
The New Jersey Reparations Council, a private research initiative, was founded by non-profit organizations the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and progressive Princeton-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has a $13 billion endowment.
State Sen. McKnight and Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson did not respond to request for comment.
