What to Know
- A replica of the slave ship Amistad reopened in Connecticut Saturday
- The state spent $2.5 million to build the ship in 1999 and 2000
- Operating costs for the ship are roughly $400,000 annually
The educational group that operates Connecticut's flagship schooner Amistad says it will have to shut down if it does not receive the remaining $105,000 in state aid it is due this year.
The comments by Discovering Amistad Chairman Len Miller this week came after Democratic state Rep. Diana Urban of North Stonington proposed using the group's aid instead to help cut the state's $54 million Medicare deficit, The Day reports.
The group operates the 129-foot schooner Amistad, a replica of a slave ship taken over by African captives in 1839. The captives were captured and jailed in New Haven, but later won their freedom in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case.
The ship became a symbol of America's early anti-slavery movement.
Urban says keeping the Amistad funding while cutting Medicare spending sends a bad message to state residents.
The ship reopened in October 2016 after the Discovering Armistad group bought it.
