well with those efforts at a standstill leaders of a prominent social justice organization in the state are taking the reins using today's historical significance to launch the New Jersey reparations Council it's a first of its kind group tasked with studying and suggesting ways to repair the state's deep involvement with slavery and the ways it continues to impact black lives senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports I can feel the spirit of my ancestors in the wind New Jersey Advocates stood at Perth amboy's ferry port where slave ships docked with human cargo from Africa in the 1700s and they marked Juneteenth with a call for reparations recalling the hundreds of black people who disembarked here to be sold into a system of slavery that endured for more than 200 years a system of slavery that extracted free black labor from enslaved people that helped to build New Jersey into the most prosperous state in the country today Ryan Haygood of Jersey's Institute for social justice announced it's launching a New Jersey reparations Council to measure slavery's impact and determine how to repair the damage to repay the generations who suffered we can draw a direct line from our shameful history to the racial disparities that black people in New Jersey face that's why we are not afraid to say the word when you have a specific measurable harm and you can see the economic impact of that measurable specific harm why aren't we calling the question for justice Senator Cory Booker introduced the bill that made Juneteenth a national holiday he told the crowd reparations is a controversial concept that struggled to gain traction for decades Booker's legislation to study it stalled in Washington and in Trenton assemblywoman shavonda sumpter's Bill to examine the harm caused by slavery is stuck in committee I've often been asked that question why now and not because it's long overdue it's because descendants are still with us descendants are still here to reap the benefits speaker said it's critical to do the research and preserve the facts especially as a conservative backlash seeks to ban books and whitewash history the council will establish nine committees to examine the wealth Gap disparities in health and incarceration School segregation and more how to repay folks we want our kids to go to school where people teach the truth we want a decent playground to play in we want to own homes like other Americans with backyards and we got a right to go on vacation when we get tired we want to go to the doctor when we get sick and not choose between Health Care in the house only yards away in historic Market describes how slave ships docked in New Jersey because of the colony offered a tax break on human cargo New Jersey's slave population topped 11 400 in 1740. the council will insist that history is told we have an opportunity here in New Jersey not only do we have an opportunity to get it right we have an opportunity to set a national blueprint the reparations Council will study these issues for two years public hearings and a final report will be broadcast by njpbs the council is promising some bold recommendations in Perth Amboy I'm Brenda Flanagan and J Spotlight news [Music] [Music]