Caribbean Church urged to join UK counterparts in apologising for slavery

Although the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom (UK) issued an official apology to Jamaica and the Caribbean on Sunday for its participation in the dreadful transatlantic slave trade from 1501 to1867, Pastor Bruce Fletcher, chief executive officer, Operation Save Jamaica and conveyor of The Churches Reparations Action Forum (CRAF), believes that the Caribbean needs to do more about racial and ethnic issues.

During his address at the ecumenical service held for the apology under the theme Reparation, Journey Towards Repentance, Repair and Reconciliation at Webster Memorial Church in St Andrew, Fletcher said, “Similarly, like the Church at Antioch, that played its role in Acts 15 in the matter of racial and ethnic issues with the Jerusalem Church, the Caribbean Church must do likewise.”

“I am reminded that the Scriptures speak to the fact that judgement must begin in the house of the Lord. We also bear in mind that the Church is called to be salt and light in the Earth. It is interesting to note that the two accounts given in the book of Acts where the leaders of the Church came together to address matters in the Church, had to do with racial and ethnic issues. One is found in Acts 6 and the other in Acts chapter 15. Therefore, we, in the 21st century, must do no less,” he said.

Injured God’s beautiful creation

Fletcher said he and the CRAF believe that the Transatlantic Trade in Africans, systematically designed to support colonialism and undergirded by the ideology of white supremacy and white privilege, has injured God’s beautiful creation and that there is need for repair.

“We believe that the Transatlantic Trade in Africans has marred the relationships God designed, His original intent, and that all God’s people and all of God’s creation is broken. As a result, repair is needed. Therefore, we call for repentance, forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. To that extent, no one is excluded in the reparation process,” Fletcher said.

“The hostility that defines so much of our history must be confronted by all and a path carved out for us to reclaim justice, peace, and hospitality as the standard by which we live as God’s people and with God’s creation,” he said.

Also present at the ecumenical service, where the UK church group acknowledged the harrowing legacy of slavery which subjected millions of black men, women, and children to backbreaking labour, violence, and dehumanisation, were Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport; Reverend Courtney Gordon, president of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches; The Most Reverend Howard Gregory, Archbishop of the Caribbean and Bishop of the Anglican of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; Bishop The Reverend Christine Gooden Benguche, president of the Jamaica Council of Churches; Right Reverend Gary Harriott, moderator of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; Reverend Norbert Stephens, general secretary, United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands; Reverend Astor Carlyle, pastor, Webster Memorial United Church; Reverend Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson, moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church; Right Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and Reverend Dr Peter Cruchley, director of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, World Council of Churches.

The apology was read by Henry-Robinson, and accepted by Harriott.

It was accompanied by a pledge from The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to give parcels of land it had received from those who profited from slavery to the most vulnerable.

Robinson stated that the apology is found in the gospel that calls on sinners to repent for what was done in the past and to be reconciled.

The apology stated: “We, the general assembly of The United Reformed Church, mindful of our own history and that of our antecedent bodies, apologise for our role in transatlantic slavery and the scars that continue to blight our society, our church, and the lives of black people in our midst and around the globe today. We have heard the pain of sisters and brothers who have been hurt and are still being hurt by these legacies, including the continuing scourge of racism.”

“We recognise our failure to honour the efforts of our abolitionist forebears by permitting the legacies of transatlantic slavery to continue shaping our word. We offer our apology to God and to our sisters and brothers in Africa, the Caribbean, and their descendants for all that has created and still perpetuates such deep hurt which originated from the horror of slavery. We repent of the hurt we have caused, our reluctance to face up to the sins of the past, and our silence in the face of racism and injustice today.”

The United Reformed Church includes denominations across England, Scotland, and Wales which benefited richly from slavery through donations made to the churches. In the apology it acknowledged their “share in and benefit from our nation’s participation and that of some of our own antecedent bodies in transatlantic slavery”.

Negative effects continue

Harriott, in accepting the apology, stated that the negative effects of the barbaric history of slavery continue to haunt the descendants of the enslaved, who currently make up the Jamaican population, highlighting that much of the nation’s policies and economic decisions are shaped by the legacies from slavery.

“I stand in a posture of thanksgiving to God to receive the apology of our sisters and brothers from The United Reformed Church UK for the complicity of their forefathers and foremothers in the enslavement of other human beings,” Harriott said.

“We stand grateful because this ecumenical service of worship represents a sign of resurrection, a sign of hope … . It is our prayer that those who have been dehumanised over centuries and those who continue to experience the impact of enslavement will be equally courageous, inspired by the spirit of God, to share in the journey demanding justice and affirming peace. This is resurrection, this is hope,” he said.

The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands’ pledged at the service to give parcels of land to the most vulnerable, adding that “landlessness has significantly hindered formerly enslaved people in their drive towards generational creation”.

In January 2023, the Church of England also apologised for its involvement with slavery dating back to Queen Anne in 1704 and pledged to support communities affected by slavery with a £100-million (US$127 million) investment over nine years.

After the apology was read, it was a grand celebration at Webster Memorial Church as if the moment of the abolition of slavery was recurring.

An encore performance was requested by Grange of the last song, There is Power in the Blood.

“We love to rejoice! What a beautiful service. What a beautiful service! This is indeed the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it,” Grange said as she started her address.

“This is a very auspicious moment in the history of our people. It is a day when churches here in Jamaica come together with churches from the UK to commit to a journey whose destination is reparation, restoration, and reconciliation,” she said.

Church’s blessing

She said 400 years ago, when persons were enslaved, African people on plantations in Jamaica, as part of a design to reap economic benefits from sugar plantations, “the Church, unfortunately, was complicit in the project and ultimately lent the Church’s blessing to the programme”.

“It is this complicity of the Church that gave splice and comfort to the citizens and governments of the UK and Europe as they endorsed and defended, with their military project, that saw the capture, the torture, the dehumanisation and devaluation of African people, legacies of which we experience today as racism, white supremacy, and discrimination,” Grange said.

“In fact, the inter-generational psycho-social experience has been so entrenched that it continues to hinder our efforts at achieving sustainable prosperity for all our people,” she said.

Grange also said that in today’s society, we continue to experience the legacies of 400 years of trafficking in and enslavement of people.

“Today, we struggle to finance quality and equitable education for all our people. We struggle to develop health and well-being solutions for people in the face of lifestyle diseases that are said to be connected to the history,” she said.

In 2023, according to The University of the West Indies, Mona, which has been championing the cause of the repatriation movement in Jamaica, England owes the descendants of the enslaved some US$24 trillion, of which US$9.5 trillion is owed to Jamaica.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com