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.

REPARATIONS FOR SLAVERY

Submitted by EPIPHANY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, MISSOURI CONFERENCE

BACKGROUND

Submitted by
EPIPHANY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST,
MISSOURI CONFERENCE