this week the New Jersey reparations Council held its first ever public meeting to study the lasting impact of slavery on black residents in the state and come up with ideas on how if at all to repair the damage that includes repaying the generations who suffered the meeting held Tuesday night comes as legislation to make a Statewide reparations task force has stalled in Trenton Melissa Rose Cooper reports although slavery shaped every aspect of New Jersey too many believe that it never happened here but Ryan Haygood of the New Jersey Institute for social justice says things like housing and wealth Gap disparities are proof of slavery's long-lasting impact on the black community he says the creation of the New Jersey reparations council is a necessary step in repairing harm felt by generations of families across the state and because these inequalities have been reinforced by generations of policy design not individual behaviors they must be repaired by Design the council will not only propose bold strategic policies to repair the enduring harm to black people from slavery but it will also answer this foundational question and that is what kind of reparative system does New Jersey need to build and invest in for black people here to finally be free to thrive to win last night the council held its first virtual public meeting for the next two years members will study the history of slavery and its effect on the state's current racial landscape New Jersey was called the slave state of the north for a reason it's not just that slavery here was among the most more brutal regimes that has been documented but also because New Jersey was among those states that refused to ratify the 13th Amendment New Jersey did not ratify the 13th Amendment until it was already ratified in other words New Jersey came to its 13th Amendment its abolition of slavery Kicking and Screaming by acknowledging New Jersey's resistance to Black Freedom the council says it will create a better understanding of how slavery has shaped the economic system slavery was practiced from the very beginning of European colonization African slavery was practiced just from the very beginning there were other systems of Labor that that the colonial or the colonists and the colonial legislators were were experimenting with but they quickly made distinctions based on race and Perpetual enslavement the current reality is that there are a large and persistent and increasing gaps in opportunities for health and well-being across neighborhoods and communities depending on who you are and where you live as the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated to health we deeply believe in dismantling structural racism and the barriers that Millions face every day simply because of their race or their intersectionality with other groups that experience oppression as a funder of the council the foundation is clear in our stance that the time has come from New Jersey to create a shared understanding of the harms caused to Black new jerseyans over the past four centuries and embark on a process to remedy these injustices the reparations Council plans to hold additional sessions by the end of the year before publishing its final report on Juneteenth twenty twenty five for NJ Spotlight News I'm Melissa Rose Cooper