Jamaica-based Christian group, the Church Reparation Action Forum (CRAF), recently completed a tour of the the United Kingdom, leading talks on reparations with the religious establishment there.

Founded in 2019, CRAF representatives were in the UK recently discussing the issues in a tour organised by Street Pastor’s founder, Reverend Les Isaac; theologian professor Robert Beckford; Dr Jacky McLeod and Bishop Tedroy Powell, leader of the Church of God of Prophecy.

Whilst in the UK, the delegation met with representatives from various organisations, including the Quakers in Britain, Churches Together in England, Evangelical Alliance, Church of England, New Testament Church of God, and the National Church Leaders Forum.

The delegation also took part in the Walk of Witness that preceded the 75th anniversary service at Southwark Cathedral in celebration of the Windrush Generation, which they also attended.

Members of the Jamaican Christian delegation were guests of honour at a breakfast in Croydon, where they met church and civic leaders, and took part in a discussion about reparations in Birmingham.

Path of making reparations

Some churches have already started on the path of making reparations. Earlier this year, the Church of England announced it would create a fund of £100 million to “address past wrongs” of slave links. Last year during their annual meeting in Britain, the Quakers agreed to make reparations for harm caused by the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

After meeting with the CRAF delegation, Siobhan Haier, deputy recording clerk for Quakers, commented: “It was humbling and hugely rewarding to meet with the delegation from Jamaica, members of whom have been thinking, working and researching in this area for years. We hope to keep building our relationship with this group, and with others across the world who share this vision.”

CRAF conversations with British churches about reparations seem promising but only time will tell what fruit will arise from those conversations. In recent decades there has been a call for Western nations, businesses and church denominations that benefited from slavery to make restitution to the descendants of slaves via reparations.

Finding common ground

Speaking on Premier Radio, co-founder of CRAF, Dr Gordon Cowans shared CRAF’s reasons for being in the UK pointing to the importance that reparation is not just about making financial restitution but entails seeking to redress the emotional and psychological harm enslavement caused within Black communities.

“The Transatlantic Slave Trade was a sin against humanity. What it has done is to destroy the relationship God intended between and among all human beings. Therefore, we are approaching the reparation question from a faith perspective. Our question is whether it is possible to repair the damage that has been done to the relationships between us. Once that is accomplished, whether it is possible for us to then consider financial reparation. To that end, we are meeting with the churches here to see whether we can find common ground,” Dr Cowans said.

Between the 16th-19th century, it is estimated that 12 million captured Africans were transported from West Africa to the Americas (North America, South America and the Caribbean) and sold as slaves to work on plantations.

Films like ‘12 Years a Slave‘, ‘Django Unchained‘ and classic TV series ‘Roots‘ depict some of the shame, cruelty and violence enslaved Africans experienced, and documentaries like ‘After The Flood‘ have highlighted the role of the Church in supporting the slave trade.

The wealth generated by the slave trade is said to have aided the economic development of Britain, the wider Europe and the United States, as well as increased the personal funds of those directly involved. Profits from this trade in humans were invested into British industry, whilst banks and insurance companies that offered financial services to slave traders made cities like London very wealthy.

Slavery’s impact has been enormous and is a contributory factor to the racism, inequality, poverty and negative life outcomes that Black people in the Caribbean, the Americas, African and the Diaspora currently experience.