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REPARATIONS FOR
SLAVERY
Submitted by
EPIPHANY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST,
MISSOURI
CONFERENCE
BACKGROUND
Members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and
the United Church of Christ began conversations on the issue of
reparations for slavery following the Disciples Justice Action Network
sponsored Justice Jubilee 2000 gathering in Tulsa, OK in September,
2000. It was noted that awareness and discussion of this issue occurs
almost exclusively among African American clergy and those churches they
serve, but is also a justice issue long overdue for the serious
attention of Christian citizens motivated by faith and tradition.
SUMMARY
This resolution calls upon the United Church of
Christ, General Synod, individual churches, Conferences and Associations
to be educated about the historical evils of the slave trade and its
legacy; a pernicious and self perpetuating distrust and fear that
continues to feed the sin of racism and its fruits of inequality and
injustice. It calls upon The Justice and Witness Ministries unit to
provide an education piece that will help the United Church of Christ
individual member's dialogue with each other and with members of their
communities.
WHEREAS: The institution of Slavery is internationally
recognized as crime for which there is no statute of limitations, and
WHEREAS; uncompensated labor was demanded from
enslaved Africans and their descendants for more than two centuries on
U.S. soil; and
WHEREAS, the principle that reparations is the
appropriate remedy whenever a government unjustly abrogates the rights
of a domestic group or foreign people whose rights such government is
obligated to protect or uphold has been internationally recognized
including;
 | German reparations to the State of Israel for the
Holocaust, |
| United States reparations to Japanese Americans for
illegal internment, |
| Reparations by the United Kingdom to the Maori
people of New Zealand, |
and,
WHEREAS; this violation of the human rights of
Africans left a long legacy of subordination, segregation, and
discrimination against descendants of slaves, and
WHEREAS; In January 2000 a bill was presented in the
U.S. House of Representatives: THE COMMISSION TO STUDY REPARATIONS
PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ACT (H.R. 40) by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).
" To acknowledge the fundamental injustice,
cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and
in 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a
commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure
and de facto racial and economic discrimination against
African-Americans, and the impact of those forces on living
African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on
appropriate remedies and other purposes." and
WHEREAS, in the century and a half since the abolition
of slavery the United States government has never acknowledged or taken
responsibility for its role in the enslavement of Africans and the
promotion of White Supremacy, and,
WHEREAS, The experience and legacy of enslavement,
segregation, and discrimination continues to limit the life chances and
opportunities of African Americans, and
WHEREAS, Christians must not only continue to call for
the release of the captives (Lev. 25:52), but also to proclaim liberty,
bring good tidings to the afflicted, and build up the ancient ruins, (IS
61:)
WHEREAS, General Synods of the United Church of Christ
has voted ten resolutions, statements, and pronouncements on racism
since 1963;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the Twenty-third
General Synod of the United Church of Christ encourages Conferences,
Associations, Congregations, Agencies, and Ministry Units of the United
Church of Christ to join in active study and education on issues dealing
with reparations for slavery; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the JUSTICE AND WITNESS
MINISTRIES of the United Church of Christ be called upon to develop a
study paper with scriptural basis to equip churches and individual
Christians so that they might urge local schools to adopt history texts
that tell the truth about the history of slavery; and encourage them to
communicate to elected government representatives their faith based
reasons for support of a formal apology for slavery, and the creation of
a Congressional commission for the study of reparations issues, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that the Twenty-third General
Synod calls upon its President and General Minister, John Thomas, and
other United Church of Christ leaders to be in dialogue with leaders of
other Christian denominations, other faith groups, and leaders and
activists in the secular community to raise this issue at every
opportunity.
Subject to the availability of funds.
A helpful list
of resources is included with this resolution.
A forum at Fisk
University affirmed the need for work toward reparations.
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GA actions
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A number of the most important actions of the 219th
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confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
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Amendment 10-A,
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possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
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Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
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Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
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