SENATE, No. 3342

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED JANUARY 12, 2021

 


 

Sponsored by:

Senator  RICHARD J. CODEY

District 27 (Essex and Morris)

Senator  TROY SINGLETON

District 7 (Burlington)

Assemblywoman  MILA M. JASEY

District 27 (Essex and Morris)

Assemblyman  THOMAS P. GIBLIN

District 34 (Essex and Passaic)

Assemblywoman  BRITNEE N. TIMBERLAKE

District 34 (Essex and Passaic)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators Cunningham, Rice, Ruiz, Turner, Assemblywoman Speight and Assemblyman Caputo

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Directs NJT to erect statue in honor of A. Philip Randolph; appropriates $90,000.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


An Act directing the New Jersey Transit Corporation to erect and maintain a statue in honor of A. Philip Randolph, supplementing P.L.1979, c.150 (C.27:25-1, et seq.), and making an appropriation.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    The New Jersey Transit Corporation shall erect and maintain a statue in honor of A. Philip Randolph to be located at Newark Penn Station.

 

     2.    a.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Essex County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute the sum of $90,000 for the purpose of erecting a statue in honor of A. Philip Randolph.

     b.  This appropriation shall be conditioned upon the New Jersey Transit Corporation and the Essex County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute entering into a formal agreement in which:

     (1)   The Essex County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute shall agree to pay for the creation of a statue in honor of A. Philip Randolph using appropriated funds as well as any other required additional funds, which the Essex County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute may receive from gifts, grants, or other forms of financial assistance from private sources, including but not limited to non-governmental non-profit, educational, or charitable entities or institutions;

     (2)   The New Jersey Transit Corporation shall agree to make space available at Newark Penn Station for the placement of the statue; and

     (3)   Upon delivery of the statue, the New Jersey Transit Corporation shall agree to pay for the cost of erecting the statue as well as the cost of any ongoing maintenance. 

 

     3.    This act shall take effect immediately, but shall remain inoperative until the formal agreement between Essex County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and New Jersey Transit Corporation described in section 2 of this act is signed.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill makes an appropriation of $90,000 to the Essex County Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute for the purpose of erecting a statue in honor of A. Philip Randolph to be located at Newark Penn Station.

     A. Philip Randolph was an American labor leader, civil rights activist, and politician.  From his 1912 co-founding of an employment agency called the Brotherhood of Labor, to the organization of the 1963 March on Washington where he shared the podium with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Mr. Randolph was a leading figure before, during and after the Civil Rights era. 

     Mr. Randolph also founded of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, which by 1937 had become the first official African American labor union, which continues to exist through the Transportation Communications International Union and co-founded the political magazine The Messenger in 1917, which published articles calling for the inclusion of more Black people in the armed forces and war industry and demanding higher wages for Black workers.  Mr. Randolph’s accomplishments were further recognized when he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. 

     In an effort to continue the work he had dedicated his life to, Mr. Randolph co-founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization aimed at studying the causes of poverty which continues to fight for racial equality and economic justice through its numerous chapters located throughout the country with three located in New Jersey.  Mr. Randolph created an alliance between the civil rights movement and the labor movement, with the goal of uniting people of all backgrounds in the collective goals of political and social freedom and economic justice.  The triumphs and accomplishments of A. Philip Randolph are just as important today as they were during his lifetime and should be commemorated through a visual representation of the man himself.