The leadership of the Church of England must demonstrate its commitment to reparations and repairing the damage caused by British colonial legacies and the contemporary negative impacts of that colonisation.
England’s involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade began in the late 16th century. The earliest documented case occurred in 1562, when English sea captain John Hawkins led an expedition that kidnapped Africans and sold them into slavery in the Spanish colonies of the Americas. The ship captained by Hawkins, which transported these kidnapped Africans, was ironically named The Jesus.
In the 17th century, sugar became an immensely profitable crop, leading the British to expand their operations by forcibly taking Africans and selling them. In 1660, they established the Royal African Company, which gave them a monopoly on English trade. The Duke of York was the Governor of the Royal African Company and continued in this role even after becoming King James II of England in 1685.
Notably, the same royal family that sanctioned these actions remains on the throne today, including as the ruling monarchy of several Caribbean countries—interwoven with the legacies of enslavement, racism, and the dehumanisation of African bodies, religion, and culture.
The Royal African Company played a significant role in the trafficking of Africans into slavery and in establishing plantations in the Caribbean and British North America. The Church of England was directly involved in the slavery system in the Caribbean, with many of its members and institutions benefiting from the economy built on enslaved labour.
The Church had ties to colonial plantations and often provided separate religious services to both enslaved people and enslavers. Some Anglican clergymen even advocated for slavery, helping to justify and perpetuate the institution.
One glaring example is the Church of England’s ownership of the Codrington Plantation in Barbados, acquired in 1710 through a bequest from Christopher Codrington, a former governor of Barbados.
Profits from this plantation were used to support British industrial growth and to fund Codrington College, an institution designed to train clergy. These clergy were tasked with reinforcing race-based theories of white superiority and Black inferiority, framing the economic dispossession of Africans as God’s will.
Across the Caribbean, the Anglican Church—like many other institutions—was complicit in the perpetuation of slavery, whether through direct involvement or passive acceptance of the social order. Scholars such as Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey argue that, after the colonization of the Americas, the image of a white Christ became intertwined with the logic of empire and was used to justify the subjugation and oppression of Indigenous and African people.
The Church of England never refuted the myth of Christ’s whiteness, despite historical evidence to the contrary. This false portrayal diminished Black people’s connection to their African spiritual heritage and promoted the belief that whiteness was synonymous with divinity and moral authority.
This image of a white Christ has historically been used to justify and reinforce white supremacy, equating whiteness with power, morality, and virtue, while fostering feelings of inferiority among Black people. This legacy has contributed to a state of psychological, social, and economic underdevelopment and dependency.
The Re-emergence of the Black Renaissance and the Reparatory Justice Movement
In the 21st century, there has been a renewed focus on addressing historical injustices, particularly the
Transatlantic slave trade and the genocide of Indigenous peoples. The global reparations movement seeks acknowledgment, apology, and compensation for the ongoing impacts of slavery and colonialism. A significant development is CARICOM’s 10-point plan for reparatory justice, which calls for a formal apology, debt cancellation, technology transfer, and investments in health and education by former colonial powers.
Another key component of the reparations movement is the call for urgent action to address the structural and systemic inequalities between the Global North and South. This includes reviving calls for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) and reforming the operational mechanisms of the United Nations, including the Security Council, to create a more equitable global political and economic system through wealth, resource, and power redistribution.
The NIEO, first proposed in the mid-20th century, aims to correct the structural imbalances in the global economic order, which have persisted for far too long. The status quo imposed by the former enslaving nations of Europe, North America, and the colonial powers is unsustainable.
The Declaration for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on May 1, 1974 (A/RES/S-6/3201) during its Special Sixth Session. This declaration sought to restructure the global economic system to ensure fairer treatment for developing countries, addressing issues such as trade, finance, commodities, and debt.
Concrete, Actionable Steps for the Church of England to Demonstrate Sincerity for Its Wrongdoing
“We Must Confess Our Sins”
The Lord has commanded us to confess our sins. Confession relieves the burden of guilt from the sinner. The Lord has promised, “I, the Lord, forgive sins and am merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts” (D&C 61:2). We must confess all our sins to the Lord.
To this end, the Church of England must embark on an immediate Reparatory Justice Action Program, with no more distractions or diversions about studying its crimes. Given the Church’s history and its role in the dehumanization of African people, the Church of England must act now by leveraging its moral influence, institutional power, and connections with the British power structure—including the Royal Family—to begin repairing the damage in the following ways:
Develop a Corporate Strategic Action Plan with clear goals, a timetable, and an accountability framework to address CARICOM’s 10-Point Reparations Action Plan.
Issue a formal apology for crimes against African and Indigenous people, including a written pledge of “Never Again” to anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism.
Establish a strategy to dismantle white supremacist religious policies and embrace Pan-African religious beliefs, customs, and philosophies in consultation with experts on anti-Black and anti-Indigenous issues. This should include a Governance & Implementation Structure with specific goals and timelines.
Craft a Vision Statement for the Church of England that actively promotes anti-Black and anti-Indigenous initiatives.
Implement restorative justice programs at the community level across the Caribbean, focusing on small farmers, unemployed youth, women, and single mothers. These programs should address the effects of racist religious teachings, historical disadvantages, and the return of wealth extracted from the exploitation of Black and Indigenous peoples.
Develop an anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism policy with a mandatory compliance framework for the Church of England’s reparatory justice initiative, designed to last for the next 75 years. (WiredJA)
