The Montclair Township Council has approved a resolution endorsing the “New Jersey Reparations Task Force” bill, which if passed will create a committee to conduct research and develop recommendations to address the generational harms caused by New Jersey’s role in slavery and its legacy of systemic racial discrimination.

The bill is being sponsored by seven state senators, including Nia Gill of Montclair (D-34), and was introduced in January 2020. It has garnered support from local organizations such as the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair and Montclair AAPI.

The Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, which will be hosting a virtual presentation on March 2 on the need for reparations, commended the township for supporting the bill.

“Plagued by the enduring history of the systemic legacy of slavery in New Jersey, it is one step toward repairing our broken state,” Sammler-Michael told Montclair Local.