In the midst of all the rage and violence generated by the appalling murder of an unarmed black man that has dominated the news media for the past two weeks, may I plead for a little quiet reflection, for the voice of sanity and the word of God to be heard above the clamour for institutional change and for history to be swept clean from anything that displeases anyone?
Pulling down the statues of men involved in the slave trade will not cleanse the conscience of the nation, neither will it eradicate from history the way that we, white British people, have murdered, tortured and abused millions of black people in the past.
Facing History
We need to face up to the facts of our own history – that our wealth and our status in the world as the greatest and most extensive empire the world has ever known was all achieved through the exploitation of our fellow human beings. The industrial revolution at home and slavery in the colonies produced our wealth and contributed to our colonial expansion.
We forced poor working men, women and children to live and work under appalling conditions in the factories, the cotton mills and down in the coal mines in Britain. And we transported millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic and forced them to live subjected to incredible cruelty and inhumanity in the so-called New World of the Caribbean islands and North and South America.
We deliberately destroyed the identity of Africans whom we enslaved, robbing them of their language, their tribal and family links, their individual identity, their names, their dignity and their personal humanity – even giving them British names. Of all the millions of people living in the Caribbean islands and among the Caribbean immigrants in Britain today – none of them have African names! We dehumanised every one of their forebears, robbing them of their identity and culture – giving them the name of their white British owner.
Pulling down the statues of men involved in the slave trade will not cleanse the conscience of the nation.
The Legacy of Slavery
I’ve spent most of my life living and working among Caribbean and African people and I know that there is no-one – other than Caribbeans themselves – with the possible exception of American blacks – who can fully get inside the Caribbean mindset. And that includes Africans who have no understanding of the legacy of slavery. The legacy of slavery is a controlling factor in the life of every Caribbean man, woman and child.
Slavery is a powerful virus that still clings to the lives of millions of people from the Caribbean islands and America. It can only be eliminated by repentance and change in the white population.
The legacy of slavery is deeply embedded in our society, affecting every level of social relationships, including education and the economy.
I have laboured both to gain and to give an understanding of this legacy throughout my ministry. My first book was called Black and White in Harmony, published at the time of the Notting Hill riots in 1958 near where I lived and worked in London. I subsequently published many books and articles and did numerous radio and TV programmes calling for greater understanding of the cultural issues involved, and our historic involvement in the slave trade.
The legacy of slavery is deeply embedded in our society, affecting every level of social relationships, including education and the economy.
All is Well?
Few people, even today, understand or even recognise the existence of a legacy of slavery, that is a powerful force in the lives of Caribbean people and of the black population in the USA.
I remember speaking to a meeting organised by Ken Livingstone when he was Mayor of London – there were some 500 black church and community leaders present and I was the only white speaker.
Just before I spoke, Anthony Reddie, a Caribbean intellectual who was a lecturer at Birmingham University spoke. He ended his talk by saying "There are just enough black people in prominent positions in society in Britain to convince the white population that all is well".
It brought the house down; they clapped and cheered for several minutes before I came on to speak. I wished the floor would open to swallow me up; it was one of life’s difficult moments! I had no answer, other than to call for repentance and change in the white population – but there were only about 20 white people present. That, I suppose, about represents the proportion of the white population that will listen to this plea.
But hear this! – Until we face up to our past sins and listen to our black brothers and sisters – truly hearing what they suffer daily through white superiority that is built in to the whole structure of our Western civilisation; and unless we British recognise that we exported to America the whole concept of white superiority – so we are responsible for the white policeman who knelt on the neck of George Floyd – we will never find the key to understanding our black brothers and sisters, whom God created in his own image in the same way as he created us, and for whom Christ also died. Until this happens, we will never discover peace and harmony in our society.
My plea is – that we stand aside from the shouting and turmoil for a little quiet reflection, and we each take this opportunity to seek the Lord for what he is saying to us, both individually and as a nation.
