By George Alleyne
With a history of being a brutal
owner of slaves, the Church
of England (CoE) has repeatedly
apologised but following
its latest act of contrition and a
promise to make amends
the University of the West
Indies has retorted that mere
words are not enough.
So vast was the slave ownership
of that mother church
of the international Anglican
communion mainly through
its UK-based clergymen and
missionaries that the compensation
figure for the men of
the cloth in the UK alone at
the time of abolition in 1833
reportedly amounted to 46 million
pounds sterling in today’s
money.
“Church and nation are confronted
by the legacy of slavery
and the slave trade which
requires an appropriate and
humble response,” Archbishop
of Canterbury Justin Welby
stated last week.
“The church needs to put its
house in order and acknowledge
tangibly our historic
errors and failure,” he added in
a message delivered last Thursday
to a symposium of Church
of God of Prophecy in the UK,
Belgium and the Netherlands,
a black Pentecostal grouping.
The forum, titled ‘History,
Heritage and Identity’ focussed
on struggles of the Caribbean
diaspora in the UK.
That virtual conference was
in partnership with UWI, and
Vice-Chancellor Hilary Beckles
said Welby’s statement is, “not
enough, not acceptable.”
Beckles’ scepticism is justified
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because CoE has been
apologizing since 2006 but
is not known to have made
any concrete restitution to
descendants of those subjected
to 200 years of slavery.
Welby himself went to Barbados
in 2013 and again apologized.
“In this part of the world
there is the history of the
church in the past acting in
oppression. It is no use covering
that up, pretending it did
not happen, making excuses, it
is true,” he had said.
Speaking from Barbados,
Beckles zoomed in on CoE’s
slave ownership on this island.
“The Church of England was
one of the largest slave owners
in Barbados through ownership
of the Codrington plantations
and would brand their
Africans like everyone did. …
with a hot iron that said … ‘C
of E’.”
“It is that history that led the
Bishop of Exeter to receive the
largest amount of reparations
for slavery. More than anyone
in England,” he added.
According to the UK Guardian
newspaper, “the church
CoE received £8,823 8s 9d,
about £500,000 in today’s
money, for the loss of slave
labor on its Codrington plantation
in Barbados. The contemporary
Bishop of Exeter and
his business associates received
even more, nearly £13,000.”
Quoting the New Testament
in his message, Archbishop
Welby spoke of the church’s
repentance.
“Repentance means turning
around, taking action and acting
differently,” he stated.
Responding Beckles said
genuine and sincere repentance,
“has to transition into
reparations and reparatory justice.
Otherwise it is not acceptable.”
The vice-chancellor’s and
UWI’s vision of what comprises
reparations from CoE is largely
establishment of a comprehensive
program of educational
University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor, Hilary Beckles.
Photo by George Alleyne
support, designed in collaboration
with the UK Caribbean
diaspora, most of who are
descendants of enslaved Africans.
“That educational assistance
can allow them to access the
programs of the University of
the West Indies,” he said.
All UWI degree and other
certification programs are
online catering for all ages from
teenage high school graduates
to young and older adults.
Beckles said there must also
be in-residence bursaries.
Anglican repentance challenge
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