Maplewood and South Orange to Support Reparations Task Force
By Barbara Velazquez
I was honored when in the Summer of 2021 I was asked to join the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) Allies for a Reparations Taskforce Bill. I have been working with them since that time in my role as chair of the Soma Action Racial Justice Committee. It may surprise some of you to learn that “New Jersey has some of the worst racial disparities in the nation when it comes to wealth, health, youth and adult incarceration and school segregation. This can be tied directly to our shameful history as the ‘slave state of the North’ and the generations of policy-driven structural racism that followed.” Take action now to repair New Jersey’s racial injustice!
The bill S233/A711has been languishing in the New Jersey Senate since January of 2020. This bill would establish a Reparations Task Force to research and propose policy recommendations for reparative justice. To date, our legislative representatives have taken no action on this bill. The NJISJ and Allies for a Reparations Task Force felt that it was long past time to finally repair harm and take swift action in doing so.
Our first task was to ask our Senate and Assembly representatives to commit to voting “yes” when the bill finally comes to a vote. My task was to reach out to representatives from NJ district 27. Mila Jasey was already one of the co-sponsors of the bill. I approached John McKeon at our “Day of Action” event last September and he agreed most wholeheartedly to support the bill. Senator Cody however, was another matter. I kept getting the run around from his people and was never able to even set up a meeting with him to discuss the issue.
In February of this year, we were asked by the NJISJ to approach municipalities across the state and urge them to adopt a resolution urging Senate President Scutari and Assembly Speaker Coughlin to hold a hearing on the Reparations Taskforce Bill. We were provided with a model resolution to share with municipal leaders. I reached out to Mayor Dean Dafis, and Deputy Mayor Vic DeLuca of Maplewood, and Trustee Donna Collier of South Orange. Without the slightest hesitation, both towns agreed to pass the resolution. South Orange adopted theirs at their Trustee meeting on March 14, 2022, and Maplewood the following day at their Town Council meeting.
This is not the first time I have reflected on how lucky I am to live in towns so progressive that support for reparations is swift and recognized as imperative. You too can support the hearing of this bill by emailing your New Jersey elected officials with one click. It takes about 30 seconds.