Murphy indicates support for Reparations Task Force

Gov. Phil Murphy indicated he’d be receptive to legislation establishing a Reparations Task Force to examine the impact of slavery on the state’s non-white residents Thursday.

“I think we’d be, without question, open-minded to that,” Murphy said at a press conference on sentencing reform Thursday. “It is a scourge that we live with — this by the way the year of the 400th anniversary of slaves first arriving in America — and I would say today’s a good example of this. We want to lead the nation in social justice, and matters that relate to the awful legacy of slavery is included in that.”

The legislative black caucus introduced legislation that would establish a Reparations Task Force Thursday.

It’s not clear what the time line for that task force’s commission will be, nor is it immediately clear how quickly — if at all — the bills establishing the body will move through the legislature.