Black, Democratic candidate for governor: ‘I wish Blacks would get over slavery’

Titus Pierce — a political newcomer and Democrat running for governor in 2017 — told New Jersey 101.5 in a series of tweets Sunday morning, "I wish blacks would get over slavery."

The tweets from Pierce, who is black, were in indirect response to this weeks' two-day occupation of Princeton University president Christopher Eisgruber’s office by members of the Black Justice League, demanding Woodrow Wilson's name be stripped from a university building and a mural be taken down. The protesters pointed to the former U.S. president, Princeton president and New Jersey governor's segregationist policies and a complicated legacy that included racist views.

The school has said it will start a process to consider those requests.

New Jersey 101.5 noted in a story Saturday that there are several Woodrow Wilson schools and buildings — even a rest stop — throughout New Jersey, though they haven't seen the same sort of protests.

Twitter user Michael Celia asked Saturday: "Washington owned slaves. Should they change the name of Washington DC?" — a comment Pierce retweeted.

Then he began his own series of replies, saying that while slavery was inhumane, it pales by comparison to the good America has done.

Pierce's biography describes him as a U.S. Army Iraqi War and combat veteran, a businessman and an entrepreneur. He says in his biography he's been running a four-year campaign and is "committed to show his core beliefs, talents and vision for the long-term success of the State of New Jersey and all its people by developing and submitting innovative business plans and actions for free to the Office of the Governor, to the New Jersey Legislature, to its many groups, to New Jersey and international businesses and all its people."

In a recent interview with Bill Spadea, Pierce said New Jersey needs to do more business with worldwide corporations — and said he thinks with a fractured based of support for more established Democratic candidates, he has a chance of becoming governor.

Titus Pierce speaks to Bill Spadea