New Jersey apologizes for slavery
They’re not sorry for repealing the death penalty against the wishes of victims’ families of all races and backgrounds, but New Jersey lawmakers are offering an apology for slavery centuries ago:
New Jersey tonight joined a list of states that have apologized for slavery, after lawmakers overwhelming passed a resolution expressing the state’s regret. The resolution merely offers the Legislature’s opinion and would not require the governor’s signature. It would be recorded in the state annals of declarations. The resolution’s sponsor, Assemblyman William D. Payne (D., Newark), noted that New Jersey had 12,000 slaves and was the last Northern state to free them. Last night, New Jersey became the first Northern state to apologize. “This is an apology for their descendants . . . and all mankind,” he said.
Not everyone in New Jersey is completely overwhelmed by p.c. run amok:
…Assemblyman Richard A. Merkt (R., Morris) said that the resolution was the first step toward reparations – the controversial idea of compensating slavery’s descendants. He said he would have supported a resolution expressing the state’s regret, but not an apology. “Most of the ancestors of today’s New Jersey residents did not even arrive in the U.S. prior to the emancipation of the slaves,” he said. “None of us can truly apologize because none of us was responsible for it.” The resolution passed the Assembly 59-8, with eight members abstaining. It passed the Senate 29-2, without debate.
As a native South Jerseyan, I am not surprised by these misplaced priorities.
On a lighter note, I also know there are a lot of other, more immediate offenses New Jersey should be apologizing for–starting with that foul, mystery odor that blanketed South Jersey over the weekend.
Ewww.
What else should NJ apologize for? Feel free to chime in with your suggestions.
***
Flashback: I still want my reparations! Russell Simmons, you owe me:
Russell Simmons, a wealthy hip-hop music executive, is marketing the reparations gospel to black youths under the modernized demand for “40 acres and a Bentley.” He’s also using the movement to sell his own line of “Phat Classic” sneakers…
…My ancestors from the Philippines were enslaved by Spain and forced to build and man the galleons that brought Hispanic explorers to America. During World War II, my relatives were subjected to extreme physical and economic oppression under Japanese occupation. During the 1920s, the states of California and Hawaii imported 50,000 laborers from my ancestral homeland to toil on American farms. Filipinos also worked on agricultural fields in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Montana. In addition, my people built levees in the San Joaquin Delta and slaved away in fisheries and lumber mills up and down the West Coast in horrid conditions.
During that time of servitude, Filipinos faced rampant societal and governmental discrimination. They were barred from voting, owning land, or starting businesses of their own in California. Anti-miscegenation laws in 16 states kept my ancestors from legally marrying white women. Until 1947, it was illegal in California for Filipinos to marry whites. In Alaska, cannery workers from the Philippines were segregated and barred from many establishments that hung signs like “No dogs or Filipinos allowed.”
Crunching the reparations numbers, every American of Spanish descent owes me $514,000 plus compound interest. Adjusted for inflation, every fellow countryman of Japanese descent owes $750,222. California residents owe my family an even $300,000. Alaskans, Hawaiians, Oregonians, Washingtonians, Arizonans, and Montanans must pay $75,000 to atone. And anyone else — white, black, or otherwise — whose family members ingested Filipino-harvested asparagus, peas, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, grapes, or fish, or who burned Filipino-cut firewood, or who lived in homes built of Filipino-sawed lumber from 1923-1947, can settle their debt by sending me a check for $999.99.
As for Russell Simmons, you owe me, too. A free pair of your $65 Phat Classic shoes should cover my pain. I wear a women’s size 6-1/2. No sneakers, no peace.
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Categories: Political Correctness
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How quaint. Wonder how much this will cost.How many blacks voted? Did the votes count? Or were they just making a statement about evil?
Another step towards paying reparations. A liberal in the W.H. and it will be a slam dunk.
For making me wait for somebody to pump my gas (same to you Oregon)!
Yeah. I always hated that.
I thought they were going to arrest me.
They already apologized for the annexation of Hawaii. Alaska?
Bon Jovie. Ew
dont the jets play in the meadowlands? they should definetly apologize for them.
They should apologize for creating the cesspools of Newark, Camden,& many more. For a governor who drives 90 to get to a pep rally and costs taxpayers who knows how much in vehicle damage, medical expenses, etc. For saddling the US taxpayers to feed bilge like Senator Lautenberg, a cherry picked fraud against the public voters. and on and on…
Gov. James McGreevey
and by now dont you think it should be old jersey?
All right…he could be popular with you, Michelle, but…
David Copperfield
The NJ legislature should apologize for ALL “magic” television specials.
And Canada owes us for Doug Henning.
And let’s not forget former disgraced Senator Torricelli
I didn’t know New Jersey was a slave state. You cannot pay reparations to todays blacks because they
can’t prove if they are descended from slaves and not
every black in this country is descended from slaves.
Besides, we are already paying reparations in the form
of welfare, etc. Where does it say that we have to
keep apologizing and paying for them. They were
given the option of going to Liberia or staying here.
Which would we have chosen in their place? Personally
I have never owned slaves, so I have nothing to apologize for.
Mike Tyson.
But NJ did give us Francis Albert…
Can’t New Jersey be forced to apologize for being…well, New Jersey
How bout we apologize to the Spanish then they apologize to the Mexicans then they apologize to the Chumash Indians then apologize to the neanderthal men then they apologize to mungo men then they apologize to cro-magnon persons then they apologize to piltdown persons then they apologize to plyopithicus persons and , and , and…ad nauseaum.
TX Rose.
You are trying to be rational. Being Liberal means you never have to be rational.
Careful… this is a trap.
Anything you say can & will be
heldspun against you. Anything less than capitulation makes you a racist.Silence is a weapon. (uncle ho)
When will the Democrat party apologize for slavery?
I dare former slaves to read this.
HERE
I am FROM N.J with the operative word ‘from’…never again..boy am I glad I now live in Georgia…..N.J is one f***ed up state.
This politically correct crap has to cease?
Just call welfare reparations and close the books.
NJ, the state that Corzine deconstructed; the speeding, wreckless driving governor who nearly killed himself not wearing a seatbelt.
Don’t they have the Jersey Girls to apologize for?
Am I being insensitive again?
“Assemblyman William D. Payne (D., Newark), noted that New Jersey had 12,000 slaves”
I think we’ve already apologized in NC and I’m almost positive that they apologized in VA. It’s all so stupid and irrelevant. Nobody alive today spent one second as a slave.
Off topic alert!
GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!
Thacker, I beg to differ… Britney was a slave to someone’s (Justin) love
#22 meatpieandtatters you said it all my friend. Through the Democrat party “suck on the ‘guhbahment’ teat” programs past and present we (the middle-class) have already paid–over and over–for the mistakes of others in the past. Times up suckers of the teat–get an education (already free thru grd.12) and a job–problem solved and no-more-excuses-period! Hard working Americans do not owe one crumb to the so-called “descendents of slavery”. Put your hands on a keyboard (free searches both govt/private available everywhere [ever hear of a public a library?]), newspaper or local billboard and get an education/job!
Perhaps we should call the Governor “Sporezine?” His NJ liberalism is spread through micro-insemination….Dead penalty gone! Hello Sanctuary State! Apologies for all past wrongs since the beginning of time! Attack of the “Zombie Sporezines!” YIKES
Finally, New Jersey has apologized. Now, all the wounds are healed. Racial harmony in 5…4…3…2…1….huh, nothing?
I’m Slavic, can I get reperations from Italy? I’ll take it in rigatoni.
Okay, since we’re repenting here; I apologize for the Irish Potato Famine.
I feel so absolved right about now…
New Jersey
We apologize for existing.
We apologize for stealing from New York.
We apologize for apologizing.
We apologize for Corzine.
Sure give them reparations. Uh, while you’re dealing in money, and, since Africans enslaved more Europeans than slaves went to the Americas, over the centuries, for every $1K paid, we want $1100 back. That’s fair, right? Oh, and since we’re paying for ancestors that weren’t my ancestors, I want reparations from England for “slavery” after Culloden. We can settle that, as soon as England gets reparations from France for Hastings in 1066. But, that will have to wait, until France gets its money from Italy from the Roman conquests. And so forth, and so on, ad nausem. If we’re suppose to pay these “bribes” to black people, what about the Hispanics and Asians? They exempt? I know my ancestors had nothing to do with the slave trade here. They came over from Scotland (one country that refused slavery and its ships from its ports) in the early 20th century. Why should I pay…even if its in taxes? Just another so-called “entitlement”; getting money from the government for whatever reason they can come up with. I like what George Foreman said, after he toured Africa,”Thank God, my great-granddaddy came over on that boat!” He was grateful that he wasn’t living in some small village or poor in some over-populated city. Don’t forget reparations from the Arabs too. They made a lot of money capturing people for the slave trade.
NJ cities should apologize for being a sanctuary for illegal border crossers.
I feel so much better now. Say, when does the apology for Affirmative Action get passed?
What’s so bad about about repatriation? What? They’re asking for reparations? Nevermind.
I think Rusty was misquoted. I’m pretty sure he demanded “40 ounces and a blunt.”
Joe “The Jersey Guy” Piscapo
Was NJ even a Slave State? Sheesh.
How about an apology to the Hungarians that the US let hang out to dry in 1956-57 after advertising on Radio Free Europe that they should rebel and overthrow their oppressors! Millions died and the rest of the country suffered real torture and slavery for another 40 years. Where is Lantos on this?
I’m full blooded Irish on both sides. I’d like all the *nglish descendants in this country to kiss my Irish *ss. It wasn’t famine, it was genocide. I’ll have a chuckle when the next wave of *nglish will be fleeing sharia law..
That’ll be enough. We Irish are doing pretty good, if you haven’t heard.
My descendants are ALL French and everyone hates the French. It hurts my feelings that a Florida born boy like me is tied to the French. I should get paid for my pain and suffering because my descendants left this legacy with me.
:holds out his tin cup
I think it would be a great idea if Democrats apologized for the Jim Crow laws they put in place and supported for more that 50 years.
How about I don’t want any damn reparations. You can keep your affirmative action & welfare too.
This is so ridiculous.
And people wonder why conservatives adhor liberals. They can’t give away your money fast enough.
There are people out there with a true need. Do the liberals care? No.
Why on earth should you apologize to me for something neither one of us were affected by nor participated in?
Shout from the mountain tops: I.Don’t.Owe.You.A.Damn.Thing. or my favorite – I.Am.Not.A.Charity.Case
That is why we love you 30!
We moved to NJ two years ago and we have been planning our departure ever since. The day after we closed on our house and moved in we had a tax assessor knocking on our door “to welcome us to the neighborhood.”
NJ’s dynamic duo – Senators Lautenberg and Menendez suck.
We live in Northern NJ. You know New York…
Can’t wait to leave.
That’s Soap. I feel right at home.
I hear Duval Patrick in Mass is implementing a ‘revenue enhancement plan’ which offers *Slave Credits* to offset any bad feeling of guilt the socialists have in his state.
Any purchase or $100 or more worth of *Slave Credits* gets you a choice of a KICK ME, or a I’M WITH STUPID t-shirt.
As a Sicilian I’m apparently owed reparations from any country that borders the Mediterranian, because they all conquered it at one time at another.
My ancestors were Huguenots — you owe me man !
just pass over the tin cup…
And not a word of thanks to brave Union Soldiers, who fought and died to end slavery!!
Why not their descendants a big pot of cash too.?
As a resident of SOUTH Jersey which is totally different from the New York City / North Jersey control of the state’s government, I am ticked off as usual. Explain to me what I have to apologize for???? There isn’t a human alive on this earth that had anything to do with slavery in the United States. Nothing more than idiotic pandering!
Hey, NJ, how ’bout apologizing to your citizens (myself included) for wasting time on this feel-good legislation while we’re drowning in debt because you don’t feel like controlling our budget?
flutejpl, because we are endless source of money?
There are so many working poor people in my neighboring cities that our church takes up a special donation for them. They have to decide between bills and food.
Robbing the poor to give to the fat. Fat, corrupt NJ legislators.
How about if black America apologizes for the murder, rape, robbery, and all-around mayhem they inflict on white America. Blacks do violence on whites at 30 times the rate whites do violence on blacks. American blacks are the richest, most powerful and privileged blacks on the planet. White folks who cringe and tremble when the topic of slavery comes up are a disgrace. We have stood on our heads for the last 40 years trying to atone for this misplaced guilt. The correct response is ‘Yeah, it happened, but not to you. To your antecedents, now long dead. You are free to head back to dear old mother Africa anytime. So stop hustling race.”
Just curious, but does Senator Obama get a half-share of these reparations?
There were free blacks who owned slaves prior to emancipation. Are they supposed to pay as well? And since part of my family was nearly wiped out during the Civil War while not even ownong any slaves, do I get to pay less?
I think New Jersey should apologize for Adam and Eve’s Fall. That should pretty much cover everything else.
Bob1234
Is he black? I thought he was white. Oh ya, he’s rich. That makes him look white.
Bob1234:
No, he gets to apologize to himself for all the trouble his other side caused, $5 and a swift kick in deirere.
Slavery, as reprehensible as it is, probably turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to those poor souls. What was their fate otherwise? If you want to lay blame somewhere, wouldn’t you have to start with the African slave traders who captured them? Have they already apologized? Have they even stopped?
I’m from California. Michelle, can I write you a post-dated check? It will take me some time to get that kind of money together. Still, I want to do the right thing.
New Jersey should apologize to the rest of the US for itself
Besides, going back to Africa removes the ‘blame whitey for everything’ portion of their excuse arsenal. Just when you think Sharpton’s eyes can’t get any wider, mention Africa…..scares the **it out of him.
Here is an idea: It should work like confession. Anyone who feels guilty can send in whatever they want to an “absolution fund.” No one stopping you. Just as no one is stopping John Edwards and his ilk in voluntarily sending in additional tax dollars to help “the poor.” Why don’t they? Because the dirty little truth is it does not solve anything. The more you give people, the more they demand. It works just like paying ransom. If you pay, it works; If you refuse it does not.
What the real undoing here is that the illegal immigrants are stealing benefits, *and* working 20hrs a day. It makes the welfare cheats look bad because of the ‘not working AT ALL’ thing. Other sources of revenue need to be investigated.
News Flash:BerthaNey is a slave to carbos and salt.
Image: Bear1909 arm wrestling the former pop sensation for the last morsel at “Waffle and Steak”.
slap! slap! back on topic:
Apologize. Apologize. Apologize. And do what?
Wouldn’t people be more pleased with lowering the cancer rate out there? No, wait. What was I thinking? We just need to pass “Universal Healthcare”.
Wouldn’t people be more pleased with eradicating illegal Mexicans who are crushing the wages of the working poor?
No, wait. What was I thinking? We just need to pass “Universal Healthcare.”
Wouldn’t people be more pleased with legislation that stopped Shari’a creep?
No, wait. What was I thinking? We just need to make Israel give up the Golan Heights.
In this country we are plagued by government and taxation that seeks to insert itself into every conceivable orifice of our national soul.
Government has no business making apologies for any past deed unless it is an apology that takes the form of a tax cut.
Get your fascist finger out of my nose.
Wait, Michelle, really; are you saying – perish the thought! – that the Northern states permitted slave ownership?! Yankees had slaves? *Thumbs through history book* That’s in my US History book. Do you mean to tell me the War Between the States was not fought to “end slavery?”
My ancestors have been traced back to Charlemagne, Alfred the Bald, a couple folks that came over on the Mayflower and on and on. I’m a white boy with blue eyes and I’m filled with guilt. I myself have never owned slaves but I’ve had my son do work around the farm in the past without paying him. I can hardly sleep at night. Every time Portland names a new street after “Their” people, I think it will assuage my inner self hate, but it doesn’t. I don’t understand these feelings as I’ve never been intentionally predjudiced to anyone of “color” (that would exclude my people, as we are white, or at least a very pale pink). Maybe I have these feelings of guilt because I’m constantly told that I’m a bad, bad man just for who I am. Just for my race and my sex. Add to all of this is the fact that I’m short, 5′6″ and probably have that Napoleon complex thingy, that I end up feeling responsible for every bad thing that every white man has done in history. Like I said, the street name changes are just not doing it, this is a cry for help!
it’s so good to know NJ is tackling hard problems, like health care, deficits, and education.
fourstringfuror,
Shhhhh. You can’t go about higlighting things like this. We must only speak of the revisionist history as we have all been taught… it was only the evil, vile South.
*Psst. Dems weren’t responsible for freeing the slaves*
It’s now official: New Jersey has replaced the UN as the most useless entity in the world.
I’d be happy with a flag containing only 49 stars at this point.
#75 — You’re close, but I think San Fran might just be a tad less useful than NJ.
Given the number of Italian-Americans in New Jersey, could the State please apologize to our European allies for the crimes of the Roman Empire? Thank you.
My ancestors (Viking & Norman) indulged in a lot of warfare and pillaging of other populations. I won’t apologise for that. In fact I’m rather proud of it.
Actually he’s trying to bring casino gambling into Massachusetts inbetween funding embryonic stem cell research and pimping gay marriage and abortion, all while driving around in his shiny new taxpayer funded Cadillac.
I think that any liberal that has to go through life looking for things to apologize
for or things to do that makes him/her “feel good” just needs to grow up!! That’s
a childish thing, not an adult action. Children do things that make them feel good about themselves. Adults know that not everything that you do is going to
make you feel good about yourself…..so, lefties, grow up. You can tell by looking
at that constant pout on Reid’s face that he is about 6 years old emotionally and
not much older mentally.
As long as we’re listing ethnicities, I am Scots Irish and Cherokee. I don’t want
reparations, I want monies paid to the government to be spent WISELY. Pipe
dream! It will never happen, just as Africans and Arabs have never stopped
selling blacks into slavery. We have modern day slaves in this country, now, of
all different ethnicities. We don’t see them because they’re here illegally and
slavery is illegal. They are being bought and sold here as well as all over the
rest of the world.
I heard Star Parker speak on slavery and she said that blacks won’t listen to her
because they prefer the revisionist’s view of slavery, that blacks were caught
and sold by whites. Wrong.
Just don’t get my son started because he’s been tussling with the professor
that wrote the history book that is used in colleges today. It states for the most part that all that matters in U.S. history is slavery, Everything is about
slavery. Nothing else matters except slavery. Ad Nauseum.
I never owned a slave.
My father never owned a slave.
His father never owned a slave.
His father never owned a slave.
I grew up poor as dirt and made something of myself because my parents said “You will go to school. You will go to church. You will work a job”. No discussions.
At this rate my great grand children will still be apologizing for for slavery.
Black America has no incentive to change this push to blame white people. It serves them too well.
This is why our culture is dominated with the “right” of black people to make fun of white people with no consequences. TV, movies, music, etc. They have free reign to make white people look inept and ignorant. White people on the other hand have to walk the politically correct tight rope or be called a racist.
My southern grown boy can beat up your hippie and I would pay to see that!
pst pst: Republicans worked to free slaves!
30 pcs…you’re so right on the only reason I still live in North NJ is because of the career I chose for myself. This has always been a corrupt state as far back as I can remember Byrne as Gov.
What kills me is the idiots in this state keep voting in MORONS like Lautenberg and Menendez and Corzine and then scratch their heads why NJ is such a mess!
ThatsamIam said:
…And it makes no more sense for me to apologize to/compensate you for what “Black America” has done or won’t do for themselves than for you to apologize to/compensate me for what happened in the past. We are supposed to move forward. For progressives they aren’t very progressive.
Besides, the reward lies in the fact that slavery was abolished over 200 years ago. The fact that I am free to come and go as I please, is it’s own reward. Enough already.
#83….That’s because libs can only vote for people that daddy voted for,
and their children will vote the same way. They don’t recognize new names on the ballot unless they have been attached to the same old ideas.
The black people that I know do not ask for reparations. They consider
themselves “lucky” their ancestors were brought to this country. They
work jobs, go to church, raise their children to be self sufficient and are
have nothing positive to say about the reverends and those who try to
keep black people down instead of encouraging them to get out from
under the yoke of these unscrupulous black leaders.
While we’re on apologies, how about the US apologize to the Cajuns and the British for the Revolution? Yes, northern states had slaves. Even John Adams had a couple of slaves in Braintree, Mass.. Anyway, one good idea… How about an “Apology Day”? Everyone can take the day off and spend the time apologizing for everything you can think of, that you and your ancestors may or may not have done.
xler8bmw,
Every time we have gone to vote, there has been a controversy. We either couldn’t use a paper ballot, we were told we were at the incorrect voting district (we weren’t!) or we were told that our voter’s registration applications weren’t received so we couldn’t vote and magically a week later, we received our new voter registration cards. How can that be when they hadn’t received our applications?? So, on top of the property tax issues we faced not even two days after we moved in & the voter registration issues… I am completely convinced that this is a not place where I want to set down anymore roots than we already have.
Lastly, this business about them taxing the sale of your home is one of the worst ideas ever. People are leaving NJ in droves. Can’t wait til I’m one of them.
Where do I begin????????????
Having lived in NJ for over 50 years, I thirst for the day(soon) when I leave the state.
Things NJ should apologize for:
1. Highest Property Taxes in the Nation. Thanks to the massive public employee rolls in the state, counties, cities, and towns. And the highest paid in the nation as well.
2. Corruption, corruption, corruption
A few of the names have been mentioned above, no need to repeat and there are scores more.
3. Highest insurance rates in the nation.
4. 600 separate school districts, all with superintendents, principals, vice principles,business administrators, department heads all making over 100K/yr. Some of these districts have only one school with a couple of hundred kids.
5. High and ever increasing tolls on the overcrowded dangerous toll roads.
6. Ridiculous traffic virtually anywhere in North Jersey at any time of the day.
7. Agressive drivers, road rage.
8. Incompetent and unaccountable schools in the inner cities who serve to do nothing but drain money from every tax payer in the state, while keeping the welfare kids that go to them enslaved. Oh, I forgot we apologized for this yesterday.
9. Some of the highest cancer rates in the country.
10. Alot of nasty, arrogant, unfriendly people and politians.
Pheeew…..sorry, I had to vent.
Good idea, but it’s already been done. The “Airing of Grievances” is one of the Festivus rituals.
Happy Festivus, New Jersey!
JohnnyNJ: you just described my home state..Oregon
Isn’t New Jersey the Garden state?
Do you really have beautiful gardens there?
Did slaves build your beautiful gardens?
The British government owes me money for oppressing my Irish and Scottish ancestors and for sending privateers to cannonball my Spanish colonial ancestors.
I’ll take payment in pounds sterling, please.
Ya’ll come to TX. We need more legal Americans here, and we are very
friendly people. No state income tax, either.
Traveler49, hi
There really aren’t many beautiful gardens. A lot of nice landscaping around private homes though.
I’m not postitve, but I believe “Garden State” refers to the day when South Jersey had many farms famous for their “Jersey Tomatoes” and sweet corn.
Ya know, I’m so down on this state that I’m convinced the damn tomatoes don’t taste nearly as good as they used too.
Nothing to see here…move along.
BTW, to my fellow MM bloggers, if you want a little window into NJ, go to NJ.com, click on New Jersey by the numbers(middle column near bottom), click on State Employees, go to Human Services. Note each department only holds 250 names, there are many more.
If you ever wanted to see what BIG GOVERNMENT meant, just roam around this site for a while and your head will spin.
JohnnyNJ, i HAVE SIMILAR FEELINGS TOWARDS MY HOME STATE OF oREGON…OOPS CAPS ARE ON… But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them chase me out.
Politically speaking of course. The tomatoes are still delish.
TXRose, Nice state, Texas…and lots of room, I’ve seen. Got friends there too. Housing is much cheaper than out here in the East.