Bill Text: NJ AR255 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Condemns official use of Confederate flag, or elements thereof, in certain state monuments and flags; supports current efforts to omit references to Confederate flag.
Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)
Status: (Passed) 2015-06-25 - Filed with Secretary of State [AR255 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-AR255-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblyman HERB CONAWAY, JR.
District 7 (Burlington)
Assemblywoman MARIA RODRIGUEZ-GREGG
District 8 (Atlantic, Burlington and Camden)
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman JOSEPH A. LAGANA
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Schaer and Assemblywoman Lampitt
SYNOPSIS
Condemns official use of Confederate flag, or elements thereof, in certain state monuments and flags; supports current efforts to omit references to Confederate flag.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution condemning the official use of the Confederate flag, or elements thereof, in certain state monuments and flags, and supporting current efforts in those states to omit any references to the Confederate flag.
Whereas, The brutal murder of nine black Charleston churchgoers by a young man inspired by white supremacist ideology has reignited a controversy over the proper place for the Confederate flag in contemporary American society; and
Whereas, Images have surfaced in popular media showing the 21 year-old shooter brandishing the flag, and displaying it on the car he drove and the clothing he wore; and
Whereas, Due to a provision in South Carolina's law, the flag flew at full staff over a monument to Confederate war soldiers on the grounds of the State Capital on the same day that the United States flag was lowered to half staff to honor the nine people murdered in Charleston; and
Whereas, Defenders of the Confederate flag see it as a symbol of the South's heritage, history, and pride, but many others see it as a heinous symbol of the racial hatred and prejudice that are a part of that heritage and an unacceptable expression of support for intolerance, racial hatred, and bigotry that have no place in modern American society; and
Whereas, Although the official State flag of South Carolina does not contain elements of the Confederate flag, vexillologists note that the official state flags of seven southern states, specifically Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee, contain elements and imagery in their flags that echo the Confederate flag; and
Whereas, According to the 2010 Census, these seven states were home to 60 million Americans, including 12 million African Americans, so that approximately one-third of the nation's black population live under a state flag that evokes, in the opinion of many, the Confederacy and its legacy of racial hatred and oppression; and
Whereas, Popular outrage stemming from the murders in Charleston has prompted the Governor of South Carolina and prominent federal and state legislators in that state to demand the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds as soon as possible; and
Whereas, Protests in many states have also spurred efforts on the part of many people in other southern states to remove the legacy of the Confederacy from their state flags and monuments; and
Whereas, In Mississippi, legislators from both political parties have called for the removal of the Confederate emblem from the state's flag, in Tennessee, there is a bipartisan push to remove Confederate symbols from the statehouse, and the governors of Alabama and Mississippi have called for the removal of or changes in their states' flags; and
Whereas, It is fitting and proper for this House to express its shock and outrage at the racist-inspired murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, and to add its voice in condemning the continued official use of the Confederate flag in South Carolina and in the flags of seven other southern states; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House condemns the official use of the Confederate flag, or elements thereof, in certain state monuments and flags, and supports current efforts in those states to omit any references to the Confederate flag.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the Governors of South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee and to the members of the Legislature of each of these states.
STATEMENT
This Assembly Resolution condemns the official use of the Confederate flag, or elements thereof, in certain state monuments and flags, and supports current efforts in those states to omit any references to the Confederate flag. The states named in the resolution are South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
