Reparations

"What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted"

Ecclesiastes 1:15 (Ampl.)

In preparing to write this I was listening to BBC 1xtra on digital radio. The programme "Basement" was playing reggae beats that travelled down through my ages. This exhilarating collection of our black musical heritage featured tracks "that shaped today’s sounds" – sounds from the 60s and 70s upwards, that resonated in my soul and spirit like "church". This collective memory of sounds is one of the markers of our African-Caribbean community that contributes to my feeling of being grounded and ‘back a yard’ where ever I am on this planet. Similarly certain historical episodes echo up through the ages to effect the present and rekindle emotions.

Recently, a national television channel aired the documentary "The Empire pays Back"– which raised the issue of Britain’s slave trading past and its contribution to the nation’s present economic wellbeing. This polemic explored the nature of the "unjust enrichment" of British life, at the expense of Africa and the subsequent transportation of slaves to the Caribbean plantations. It queried the lack of recognition of the exploitation of African resources, the inhumanity of slavery and the failure to publicly acknowledge the debt this country owes to the descendants of slaves. It called for an apology, as was given for the Irish potato famine, stressed the importance of the "ritual" associated with such events, a "public monument of national contrition equivalent to Berlin’s Holocaust Museum" and most importantly, it called for reparations and suggested one means could be "educational programmes to counter racism".

In a review of the programme, a columnist wrote "Britain was the principal slaving nation of the modern world…without Africa and its Caribbean plantation extensions, the modern world as we know it would not exist…English banking, insurance, shipbuilding, wool and cotton manufacture, copper and iron smelting, and the cities of Bristol. Liverpool and Glasgow, multiplied in response to the direct and indirect stimulus of the slave plantation"’. The critic concluded by identifying "the afterlife of slavery"…”the wage of whiteness” that enables a "taken for granted" membership in a world of "white British privilege". He made reference to the "outsider" label attached to those of African descent in the U.K. and the unacceptable number of deaths of black people, over time, in ‘mysterious circumstances’ whilst in police, prison or hospital custody. His concluding statement was provocative – "Britain has never even faced up to the dark side of its imperial history, let alone begun to apologise".

Leaving aside, for the moment, the duplicity of European Christianity in providing a theological legitimacy for the degradation of black people during slavery and the colonial period that followed, how does the Bible approach the notion of reparations?

Are we not to forgive, seven times seven?

The story of the Prodigal son is well known in church circles. It is the archetypal story of forgiveness. Whilst wanting to atone for his errant behaviour, through assuming the role of a "hired servant" - the returning son, was not permitted to make reparations. His father was overjoyed and forgiving because his "lost" son was returning to him and thus to his rightful place in the family, within the tribe. He even reassured his son that all he had materially, was still available to him, despite the fact the son had squandered his share of his economic inheritance.

We also have the story of Jesus’ encounter with the rich tax inspector, Zacchaeus and his desire to lodge with him (Luke 19: 7-10 Amplified)

"And when the people saw it, they all muttered among themselves and indignantly complained, He has gone in to be the guest of and lodge with a man who is devoted to sin and pre-eminently a sinner. So then Zacchaeus stood up and solemnly declared to the Lord, See, Lord, the half of my goods I [now] give [by way of restoration] to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I [now] restore four times as much. And Jesus said to him, Today is Messianic and spiritual] salvation come to [all the members of] this household, since Zacchaeus too is a [real spiritual] son of Abraham; For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."

These illustrations are just two perspectives on the issue of reparations. In the first, the prodigal son is prompted to return, through self-pity and possibly guilt, urged by economic necessity; he was starving and destitute. He has learnt his lesson but there is little indication that it had affected real change in his character. The motivations of Zacchaeus, on the other hand seem different. There appears to be a genuine concern for past exploitative behaviour and the necessity for reparations as part of the redemptive process. There is a visible movement towards self-healing and wholeness. Zacchaeus is conscious of the effects of his actions on others, their disapproval, which he does not counter, and the importance of making a public declaration of his personal need to restore social and political justice.

"…if anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees brothers and sisters and fellow believers in need, yet closes their hearts of compassion against them, how can the love of God live and remain in them?...let us not love (merely) in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity)…" - 1 John 3 :17-18 (Ampl. Inclusified)

May the Holy Spirit of God provide you with the spiritual insight to discern your role in the healing processes of forgiveness and restoration, of others.

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