On Juneteenth, the annual celebration marking the end of American chattel slavery,a powerful and righteously angry theological statement has been released from a collective of Black pastors and theologians to emphatically repudiate white supremacy and anti-Black violence. No punches are pulled in the naming of the "incessant onslaught of anti-Black violence that is the progeny of white racist structural evil" which "constitutes the very fabric of U.S. society" or calling of "the social, moral and political failure of the 45th administration of this nation." A searing summary of 400 years of white violence is followed by a theological assertion that God is on the side of the oppressed (Luke 4:18). 

"We reject the white Christ that propels so-called Christians into complicity with white supremacy and bad faith that separates justice from righteousness. We further reject the prevalence of the individualist gospel of white evangelicalism that aims toward the perfection of personal piety and the prosperity gospel that asserts “manifest destiny” and capitalist acquisition as the will of God. We affirm God’s care and option for the poor, the prisoner, the infirm, the immigrant and the persecuted."

​Read the full statement here.

On Windrush Day, the 72nd anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, it has been revealed that the scheme set up in April 2019 to compensate the victims of the Windrush Scandal has, to date, only paid less than 5% of the claimants. It is now over 2 years since the scandal emerged – people who had lived and worked in the UK for many years losing jobs and benefits, and at least 164 held in detention centres, or deported.

Just like before, with having to prove their right to stay in Britain – the Home Office having destroyed landing cards and other records, “the burden is on the claimant to prove financial loss,” said Beri Nwosu, a solicitor and immigration specialist at Hackney Community Law Centre, adding that specific, “scientific” terminology used throughout the form made the application process extremely difficult.

Campaigner Patrick Vernon’s, whose parents were part of the Windrush generation, said: “It’s important that we remember the huge contribution the Windrush generation made to the UK, and Windrush Day helps us to do that. But it’s bittersweet, because the hostile environment policies that led to the scandal are still in place. People are still waiting for compensation and we’re still waiting for action on the Lessons Learned review.”

Two major British firms have pledged to make payments to representatives of black people, as well as those of other minority ethnic backgrounds, as they seek to address their founders’ roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The pub chain and brewer Greene King and the insurance market Lloyd’s of London both revealed on Wednesday evening that they would be making the reparations.

Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie said: “It is inexcusable that one of our founders profited from slavery and argued against its abolition in the 1800s.” He added that the firm will “make a substantial investment to benefit the BAME community and support our race diversity in the business”.

Lloyd’s of London said it would “invest in positive programmes to attract, retain and develop black and minority ethnic talent”, as well as providing “financial support to charities and organisations promoting opportunity and inclusion for black and minority ethnic groups”.

Records of British slave ownership archived by researchers at University College London (UCL) show that founder members of both Greenes and Lloyds owned slaves and were compensated as part of the Government bail-out of slave owners in 1833. The slaves received nothing.

​Read more here.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement of a "commission" into racial injustice has been met with incredulity. David Lammy, author of one of a number of existing recent reviews and reports, stated: "It is time for action on the countless reviews, reports and commissions on race that have already been completed." The commission was announced by Johnson in an article he wrote for the Telegraph about his hero Winston Churchill.

The Independent Editorial, noting Churchill's famous wartime red stickers: "ACTION THIS DAY", says: "Instead of action this day on racial injustice, Mr Johnson promises some vague internal 'commission' that might come up with some suggestions by Christmas." It continues Johnson wants to "kick the debate to the other side of Christmas when, presumably, the impending issue of a no-deal Brexit and the continuing response to the coronavirus pandemic may bury more bad news for him. It is so crude a tactic it suggests Downing Street takes the electorate for fools."

If our Prime Minister is serious about #BlackLivesMatter this is not how to #GetRacialJusticeDone.

MJR trustee Dr Joe Aldred, interviewed in Christian Today about the #BlackLivesMatter protests has said he welcomes "this simultaneous combustion of racial justice consciousness. The nerve that George Floyd's public slaying by a police officer - while his colleagues looked on even as passers by protested - was a historic one made tender by the enduring injustice that has been gnawing away at black people's patience for years - centuries, even."

"In my view, this devaluing of Black life has its roots in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, chattel slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and Jim Crow laws. Black people who live in 'Western' societies understand this through experience and observation to a lesser or greater extent, which mean this was a fire set to blaze and simply waiting for a match to ignite it. Many white people seem unaware of the heightened resentment black people have towards the racism that blights so many black lives in a world that moves to the tune of whiteness."

Turning to the complicity of Western Churches in "the history of the practice of racism", Dr Alred states"any acknowledgement of that complicity needs to go deeper and further than being stirred by the current incident of George Floyd's killing and the Black Lives Matter-led protests that have so effectively channelled the raw emotion of exasperation, grief, anger and demand for justice." Characterised by the Biblical notion of repentance, which calls for a "high price of giving up and restoring what has been stolen", he continues, "Churches need to take this opportunity, not by any means their first, to look deep into their souls and reckon with their history concerning black people; then act in a spirit of reparatory justice. Racial injustice is a systemic issue in society and in the Western Church.  The Church must call for systemic solutions that match the seriousness of historic and contemporary racial injustice."

​Read the full interview here.

Twelve years after publicly endorsing a campaign to build a major memorial commemorating the victims of the transatlantic slave trade when Mayor of London, now Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to provide funding to build the statue. In 2008 Johnson said it was “important that this history is never forgotten”, adding: “Hyde Park is a fitting site for a permanent memorial to the millions who lost their lives and the courageous people who fought to end the brutal transatlantic slave trade.” But no funding was forthcoming then, and the government declined to fund the Hyde Park memorial in December 2019.

Patrons of the campaign include Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Keir Starmer’s race relations adviser. The campaign organisers said: “Right now, there is no major memorial in England to commemorate the victims of the transatlantic slave trade. There are millions of people who were brought over from Africa in ships and kept as slaves. Many of them built Britain, but were subjected to cruelty and forced into inhumane conditions.”

To find out more, read this article. Visit the campaign website. A new £4m fundraising campaign can be found here.

Historian David Olosuga in this Guardian article states: "For people who don’t know Bristol, the real shock when they heard that the statue of a 17th-century slave trader had been torn from its plinth and thrown into the harbour was that 21st-century Bristol still had a statue of a slave trader on public display".

Edward Colston helped to oversee the transportation into slavery of an estimated 84,000 Africans, of whom, it is believed, around 19,000 died on the voyage. Their bodies were thrown into the sea. Olosuga comments: "The historical symmetry of this moment is poetic. A bronze effigy of an infamous and prolific slave trader dragged through the streets of a city built on the wealth of that trade, and then dumped, like the victims of the Middle Passage, into the water. Colston lies at the bottom of a harbour in which the ships of the triangular slave trade once moored, by the dockside on to which their cargoes were unloaded. The crowd who saw to it that Colston fell were of all races, but some were the descendants of the enslaved black and brown Bristolians whose ancestors were chained to the decks of Colston’s ships."

Olosuga goes on to condemn the "overt and shameless, but not unique" long defence of Colston's reputation which frustrated a number of campaigns to have the statue peacefully removed, or at least to have a plaque on it which told his whole story. "Today is the first full day since 1895 on which the effigy of a mass murderer does not cast its shadow over Bristol’s city centre. Those who lament the dawning of this day, and who are appalled by what happened on Sunday, need to ask themselves some difficult questions. Do they honestly believe that Bristol was a better place yesterday because the figure of a slave trader stood at its centre? Are they genuinely unable – even now – to understand why those descended from Colston’s victims have always regarded his statue as an outrage and for decades pleaded for its removal?

​Read the full article here.

Statement from the Rt Revd Vivienne Faull, Bishop of Bristol 08/06/2020
The appalling death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests have brought the issues of racism, oppression, inequality and injustice once again into the spotlight, where they should be. These are issues that the Diocese of Bristol, like many organisations, has been aware of, discussed and attempted to address. However, while we have taken some positive steps, it is clear that we have not done enough.
The protests in Bristol yesterday and the destruction of the statue of Edward Colston mark a moment in the city’s history. As Bishop of Bristol I will now act with a renewed sense of urgency and determination to:

• Acknowledge and repent of the Church’s past involvement in and benefit from the slave trade;
• Challenge and address institutional racism, listening to and learning from the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people;
• Recruit and support more Black, Asian and minority ethnic clergy, staff and volunteers; 
• Make our churches truly welcoming to everyone, taking responsibility for the need for profound cultural change in our Church. 
• Work with others in the Diocese of Bristol and the Church of England to bring these things about

This work won’t be easy but we must be relentless in our commitment to bringing about change.

Colston was an English merchant, slave trader, and MP who endowed schools, almshouses, hospitals and churches across Bristol, including the cathedral. Read more in this Church Times article.

“The presence of that statue to a slave trader in the middle of the city was a personal affront to me and people like me.” – Marvin Rees, elected Mayor of Bristol, interviewed on Sky News on the removal of the statue of Edward Colston.

In this interview with Christianity magazine Rees also comments on what the Bible says: "We need to look at our political and economic system and learn the lessons from the Bible, because racism includes economic inequality. Social reconciliation depends on economic and political redistribution of power. The story of Zacchaeus is about reconciliation, but it's dependent on him giving back the money he stole. Too often people see forgiveness and grace as cheap. It's free but it's not cheap." Read the full interview here.