New Jersey to Apologize for Slavery?

Herald Tribune ^ | January 1, 2008 | AP

[dcgard]

TRENTON, New Jersey: New Jersey lawmakers begin considering this week a measure that would make theirs the first northern U.S. state to offer an expression of regret for slavery, an institution that one Republican lawmaker said blacks today should remember led to their becoming Americans.

The resolution, which is to be discussed in a state Assembly committee on Thursday, expresses "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery and apologizes for the wrongs inflicted by slavery in the U.S. If approved, it would make New Jersey the fifth U.S. state to offer a similar apology or expression of regret for the institution that served as a catalyst for the U.S. Civil War, the only war to be fought on American soil.

[hellbender]

Just a reminder. As black conservative Thos. Sowell points out, the number of white Europeans kidnapped and enslaved by Muslims from North Africa exceeded the number of blacks transported to America as slaves by Europeans.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Legislatures apologize for everything but their own, current mistakes.

[CharlesWayneCT]

New Jersey banned the importation of slaves in 1788, but it also forbade free Negroes from settling in the state

That sounds so much like a democrat.

Maybe New Jersey should apologize to the rest of us for being a state.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

If your great-great-great grandfather was Abraham Lincoln and mine was John Wilkes Booth, would I have to apologize to you?

[epow]

New Jersey had one of the largest slave populations in the northern colonies, was the last northern state to free slaves and was the last northeast state to abolish slavery, doing so in 1846.

I recently read somewhere that RI was the last northern state to abolish slavery, I guess that was bad information.

I hadn't known that any of the northern colonies or states had ever allowed slavery, but apparently almost all of them did from the early days of colonization up until the late 18th century and even much later in some. That's a black mark on those colonies' records,(no pun intended) but today's white people aren't responsible for what their ancestors may have done 2 centuries ago.

[JewishRighter]

New Jersey would be much better off apologizing for being the national laughing-stock corruption stinkhole that it is as well as being an also-ran liberal pc butt-kissing pathetic second-rate Massachusets.

[donna]

Who knows why leaders start wars. Brave soldiers fight because they believe in good.

[Lancey Howard]

New Jersey to Apologize for Slavery?

Heh, why not? That place is so far down the toilet they may as well just go right on down the entire goofball liberal Democrat agenda until they hit every item. I'm sure "fisting for third-graders" is on there somewhere.... maybe even before socialized health care.

[frithguild]

Good point. All of my ancestors arrived after the Emancipation Proclaimation. Why should I apologize?

[Calpernia]

They should apologize for wiping out our states heritage in 9 words.

[NativeNewYorker]

New Jersey should apologize to the rest of us for being a state.

Having lived downwind from NJ my entire life, I'd certainly second that motion.

[frithguild]

My earliest ancestors arrived after the Emancipation Proclaimation. So this doesn’t apply to me.

However,

LonePalm’s some of ancestors arrived on the Mayflower. So slavery is mostly his fault.

I think we should have the Senate or Assembly issue a subpoena to LonePalm and everyone else like him, so that we can get to the bottom of this.

[Calvin Locke]

And the LSM wonders why their influence continues to plummet.

I doubt that the writer knows the "White House" got its name from being painted white to cover up the damage from when the British burned it. Dolly Madison and all that.

During WWII, one might be able to count Wake Island, and Alaska, too.

And the mining of the Chesapeake Bay, the Nazi saboteurs that were caught, the Japanese incendiary balloons, a couple of air attacks from Japanese submarines on the West coast...

[Calpernia]

LMAO!

[frithguild]

Having lived downwind from NJ my entire life, I'd certainly second that motion.

So move.

[Doctor Don]

I and my ancestors never owned slaves! Yet I am an economic slave to minority groups who are slaggards. Where is my apology, Jesse Jackson?

[Rabble]

"Just when you though New Jersey Democrats could not make bigger fools of themselves...hey nitwits New Jersey never allowed slavery, it was a “free” state. "

According to the article:

According to the proposal, New Jersey had one of the largest slave populations in the northern colonies, was the last northern state to free slaves and was the last northeast state to abolish slavery, doing so in 1846. It also allowed authorities to return runaway slaves to their owners.

[epow]

What about all the Italians and Chinamen who died building the transcontinental railroad?

Uhhh, I think they're all still dead.

Of course most of them are voting for Democrats at every election, although they probably don't know it.

[ThomasThomas]

If New Jersey is working on a list I can think of some things that should come first.

Governor: Jon Corzine (D)

Frank R.Lautenberg,- (D - NJ) Senator

Robert Menendez,- (D - NJ) Senator

[Polybius]

My ancestors were in Eastern Europe until the 1900’s. I’m innocent,.....

Actually, you might have a case for reparations.

Long before there was a trans-Atlantic slave trade, there was a flourishing slave trade of Slavs to the Muslim world in the Middle East and North Africa.