NJ Assembly Member William D. Payne, said the resolution “is an apology for the ages, for all mankind.”
Sidebar
Once we were slavesJanuary 11, 2008
Local Jewish officials applauded as state lawmakers passed legislation apologizing for New Jersey’s role in slavery from colonial times to the Civil War.
With the clock ticking on Monday, Jan. 7, at its last session of the 2007 calendar, and with a long agenda of items still to consider, the Legislature approved the resolution (ACR270) with a vote of 59-8 in the Assembly and 29-2 in the Senate.
The legislation declares New Jersey’s “profound regret” for its role in slavery and apologizes for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its lingering effects in the United States, according to a statement by its sponsors, Assemblymen William D. Payne (D-Dist. 29) and Craig A. Stanley (D-Dist. 28).
The apology is largely symbolic, but it does urge NJ residents to “remember that slavery continues to exist and encourages them to teach about the history and legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws.”
Among the statements issued in support of the measure was one from the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey.
Felice Maranz, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, issued a statement supporting the New Jersey Legislature’s apology for slavery.
The statement, drawn up by JCRC director Felice Maranz, opened with the quote from the Passover Haggada: “Once we were slaves and now we are free.”
“We believe that recognition of historic injustice is central to preventing future atrocities,” according to the JCRC statement. “We are engaged in pursuing justice, righting wrongs wherever possible, and promoting a future where all people will be judged, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., by ‘the content of their character.’”
Even for those who feel no ancestors of theirs played a role in slavery, Maranz told NJJN, there is still a need to express their profound opposition to any such past — or ongoing — oppression.
“This is an issue that resonates for Jews,” she said.
Rabbi Joel N. Abraham, leader of the Reform Temple Sholom in Fanwood and a leading participant in local interfaith and interracial activities, also expressed approval of the resolution.
“As Jews, we are commanded in our Torah to love the stranger as ourselves — because we experienced slavery in Egypt,” he said. “Central to the Jewish ethic is the idea that we must imagine that we ourselves were slaves and therefore do our utmost to keep others from that situation and to sympathize with those who have [been enslaved].”
Rabbi Joel N. Abraham of Temple Sholom said Jews have an imperative to help protect others from slavery and to sympathize with those who experienced it.
He pointed out that in 2003, the Reform movement’s congregational body passed a resolution supporting federal efforts to acknowledge and deal with the injustice and inhumanity of slavery. The resolution sought greater understanding of the historical realities of slavery in American society.
Some legislators objected that the resolution supports the notion of “collective guilt.”
Addressing these and other objections, Payne said, “This apology is not for deceased slaves. The apology is for their descendants, an apology for the ages, for all mankind. Critics say this is too late and meaningless. Making a stand for society is never a waste of time.”
Jacob Toporek, executive director of the NJ State Association of Jewish Federations, also welcomed the resolution. He said that after reading the text and listening to comments from Payne, “it seems to me that the state of New Jersey has a substantial history of slavery. The Jewish community has asked for apologies for what was done to us, and I think that this is the same kind of thing. Whether it’s New Jersey or a Southern state, this is not a good part of our history, and I do believe this was the right thing to do.”
According to research by the University of Virginia, New Jersey’s slave population reached its highest level in 1800 with 12,422, a number exceeded in the North only by New York.
In 1804 New Jersey voted to gradually abolish slavery — the last Northern state to do so.
The state now joins Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland in apologizing for slavery, with New York, Massachusetts, and Arkansas considering similar legislation.
Once we were slaves
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey issued a statement in support of legislation apologizing for New Jersey’s role in the slave trade. An excerpt:
EACH YEAR, as the Jewish community celebrates the holiday of Passover, we gather to remember our history as slaves in Egypt and to honor our transformational journey to freedom…
We concur with the resolution’s call that citizens of New Jersey “remember that slavery continues to exist and encourages them to teach about the history and legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws.” We are committed to the idea of tikun olam, Hebrew for “making the world better,” a core tenet of Judaism. We remember those who suffered and died during the founding of the United States and during institutionalized slavery, along with those who continued to suffer the consequences of discrimination in the decades that followed slavery’s abolition.