The New Jersey Legislature has voted to approve a resolution apologizing for slavery in the state. The “resolution does nothing more than say New Jersey is sorry about its shameful past,” said Assemblyman William Payne, the Democrat who sponsored the measure. He continued, “The resolution offers an apology for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its after effects in the United States.”
If the resolution had ended there it would have been bad enough, but it compounded the bigoted ignorance of its sponsor by employing language that serves only to assuage inappropriate behavior and irreconcilably poor decisions. It gives license to a de facto victimological mindset and, even more egregiously, it sets the tenor for continued government intervention based on race-preferences and race-based affirmative action.
While it may be dulcet to those who trade on same, and to those who view themselves as “victims,” that does not negate the truth that such a mindset is self-limiting and self-defeating. But I get ahead of myself.
The resolution states that in New Jersey, “the vestiges of slavery are ever before [black] citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting business, buying a home, seeking quality public education and college admission, and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities.”
What exactly are the vestiges of slavery that blacks in New Jersey suffer under today? During the era referenced, African slaves were forbidden to carry firearms when not in the company of their masters. They were forbidden to assemble, and they could not be on the streets at night. During the Queen Anne’s War, passes were required to travel limited distances from their homes, under penalty of flogging. They could be put to death in a way commensurate with the “aggravation or enormity” of their crime.
Vestige, by definition, means “a footstep, footprint, a trace, a mark, or visible sign left by something (as an ancient city or a condition or practice) vanished or lost.” What unambiguous evidence of same do blacks in New Jersey suffer from today? Overt contempt for whites and those blacks who do not ascribe to their ideals do not count.
Subtle contempt for antagonistic or confrontational attitudes is not evidence of subtle racism. Subtle disdain for anti-social behavior is not evidence of subtle racism. Subtle or overt opposition to the collapse of social civility that leads to the exudation of crime and violence into peaceful neighborhoods is not evidence of either subtle or overt racism.
In 2004, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified 30 hate groups in New Jersey, 27 of which fell into four major hate group categories – racist skinheads, black separatists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan. And while the black separatist hate group is identified, violent black gang groups are also a problem – my point being that the resolution doesn’t reference black hate groups, nor does it address the destruction of communities by black gangs.
How does one define the alleged subtle racism blacks encounter when requesting health care? How many blacks in New Jersey, with or without health care, are turned away or treated differently because of their skin color? Does a perceived slight by a white doctor or nurse automatically make them racist? Are blacks in New Jersey denied access to nursing facilities and/or personal care facilities because of their skin color? The absence of rap music, a black receptionist and so-called African art is not evidence of racism in the doctor’s office.
New Jersey boasted 36,280 black-owned businesses in 2000, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. That total did not include the great number of black small businesses that go uncounted.
The State of New Jersey Department of Education, in 2006-2007, indicated that there were over 241,000 black students attending public schools. Liberal opposition to vouchers notwithstanding, who is to be blamed for under-performing public schools that spend more time and energy on football, basketball and homosexual sensitivity than they do math and science? The state census showed 40 percent of blacks in the state were homeowners. I can personally point to several white professionals who were stopped for questionable reasons by police in New Jersey.
How will this resolution make one black person’s life better? How will it enhance black education, eliminate black crime, clean up black neighborhoods, and stem the pandemic levels of black abortion? Does it address anti-social belligerence by blacks? And where in said resolution is the destructive zeitgeist of “blame whitey” and victimology addressed?
The resolution is nothing more than pandering in its rawest form. With all of the so-claimed problems in black New Jersey, am I the only one who finds it curious that Payne’s chief act of leadership is to work up an apology for something that, most probably, 90 percent of the people didn’t know existed, and the other 10 percent didn’t care about until they thought there was something in it for them?
Passing a resolution of apology for something that has been condemned for hundreds of years and illegal for 150-plus years, while sanctioning and/or dismissing the destructive behavioral patterns of today, is ludicrous – serving only to perpetuate a growing class of victims.
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