Thought for the Week – August 23

I want to propose a shout out for the Church of England. This is not a sentiment that I often wish to express. I am more often exasperated by the institution’s fixation with focusing inward, in an obsessive navel gazing. But for once the gaze is turned outwards towards a cause dear to my heart.

I have been lucky enough in the last couple of years to spend part of January in the Caribbean. The first time I went I couldn’t get over the fact that there was so little mention of slavery. Many of these islands have ancestors who survived the most horrific conditions: but it seemed as if slavery was the elephant in the room. We met up with a friend from London, who was born in Barbados, whilst we were there, so I asked him why this might be. ‘One of the main sources of income, now, is tourism’, he explained. It appears that the tourists who have the money to make these trips are mostly white. They don’t want to hear about parts of their history that make them uncomfortable and these islands need the income, so to some extent it suits everyone to keep the elephant in the room.

With this in mind I want to celebrate the Church of England’s decision to make financial reparation for their part in the evil of slavery. In a recent visit to Ghana, Archbishop Sarah Mullally, expressed lament for the Church of England’s involvement in chattel slavery and reaffirmed her commitment to a controversial £100 million fund for affected communities. She visited Cape Castle, where slaves were held in the dungeons before exiting through ‘the door of no return’, to be ferried onto ships and transported across the Atlantic. The picture of a purple clad, bare-headed woman, kneeling in prayer in front of that door is cause for celebration. May that example mean that the only thing to leave through the door of no return in the future is the elephant.

Wendy Quill