The Caribbean reparations movement notched up another victory at the weekend in its long journey for reparations when the Church of England said it was sorry for its centuries of participation in the trans Atlantic slave trade.
The apology came from the English Protestant church which had been under increasing pressure in recent months to both admit to its role in slavery and to concede that the church had made billions in today’s equivalent calculations from slavery.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England was speaking at a ceremony celebrating 200 years of the Diocese in Jamaica and the neighboring Cayman Islands. He unveiled plans for the church to contribute Sterling 100 million to a form of reparations noting that the money should go towards restoration, healing and reconciliation among descendants the slave trade. He said the church had seriously erred from its participation in slavery noting that while such a wrong cannot be righted the church was remorseful for its role in slavery.
“We are deeply, deeply, deeply sorry. We sinned against your ancestors. I would give anything for it to be reversed, but it cannot, so what makes for a better future? When we come to worship God, when we come to serve Jesus Christ, we are all equal, even those who have sinned terribly. What we have done remains in the present, both for good and evil,” he told the gathering.
Welby had in recent months commissioned an audit of finances available to the church and as well to paint a picture of how the church had benefitted from the slave trade that had killed millions of Africans headed to West Indian agricultural plantations. The audit had also suggested that slavery and the role the church had played had amounted to a crime against humanity. He told church goers
“It will be aimed at creating possibilities for people through investment, particularly in areas like education which we also hope will also produce income for the fund so the fund becomes self-sustained. We do what God gives us the resources to do and the rest is up to God. The more resources God gives us the more we give,” the archbishop said.
But an independent study which had been set up by the church had found that the money was insufficient when compared to the wealth that had flowed from slavery and “the moral sin and crime of African chattel enslavement.” The study had suggested that the church comes up with at least one billion pounds or about $1.3 billion dollars as a better contribution to any form of reparations. Church leadership has said that it had accepted the recommendation from the study that the amount is too small compared to the benefits the church had raked in. The Reformed Church in England had also apologized for its role in slavery.
The latest indication of contriteness has followed in the wake of formal apologies for slavery from both the Dutch government and the king of The Netherlands. The Dutch had also said that the door was open for formal talks. This is even as the umbrella Caribbean reparations Commission and regional governments are trying to engage former European slave trading nations in a formal summit to discuss the way forward. Demand letters for compensation and reparations have also been sent to European capitals and a British law firm has been engaged to fight the case if necessary.
Experts have estimated that the church had benefited from up to $1 billion from slavery and should make a concerted effort to properly compensate today’s dependents who are still suffering from the effects of slavery and its aftermath.
