Uncomfortable truths

The Rev Dr Elijah Obinna and Mirella Yandoli consider the lessons of an ecumenical pilgrimage to Jamaica.

Britain and Jamaica were, in reality, two sides of the same problem, profoundly intertwined, and that this was a truth that did not have to be sought out or hunted down, it was not hidden behind a veil or screen or any kind of door; It was and had always been everywhere, like the weather.

Zadie Smith: The Fraud

THE quote above comes from a novel exploring the many threads connecting Britain and Jamaica.

Though the novel is historical, set in 1860s England, the point it makes is very much alive today. Scotland and Jamaica are even more tightly bound, just look at the Jamaican flag and glance at the surnames of famous Jamaicans. Campbell is a more common surname in Jamaica, than it is in Scotland. Highlighting these connections, recording the learning and seeking to repair our relationships with the people of Jamaica, were the central themes of our pilgrimage.

Since last year’s report on our denomination’s ties to chattel enslavement, the Church of Scotland has faced a choice: to explore this legacy alone or in partnership with affected communities and UK residents of African descent. We must decide whether to determine our own path of repentance and reparation or to listen to those who intimately understand the scars and what might heal them.

These questions have brought us to the door of the Christian Reparation Action Forum (CRAF). The Christian Reparation Action Forum (CRAF) was established in 2019 when Pastor Bruce Fletcher and the Rev Dr Stephen Jennings were appointed to Jamaica’s National Council on Reparations to represent the churches’ perspectives. CRAF was formed to collaborate with local and international churches to promote restorative justice, healing, and restoration for formerly enslaved African people. Notably, the Rev Dr Collin Cowan and the Rev Dr Gordon Cowans, both ministers in the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, visited the Moderator of the General Assembly last summer to share CRAF’s vision.

CRAF has developed a seven-point reparations plan, which, it believes, captures the essence of the lingering effects of the trauma of enslavement in Caribbean churches and their wider societies. This plan proposes that the components needed for holistic healing included: apology, addressing psychological trauma, reimagining education, addressing landlessness, establishing spatial markers, and agriculture and climate change. This plan has been used to energise the Jamaican Churches’ own reparatory efforts. Many of the historic denominations in Jamaica benefited from the assets left behind after emancipation. UCJCI, in particular, inherited land and CRAF’s recognition of this has sparked a reckoning within the denomination. UCJCI has promised to give back some of these lands for many of the projects CRAF has envisioned.

CRAF’s work within Jamaican Churches serves as a model for UK Churches. To discover past cruelties, their lingering impacts on all of us and to truly repent of them. The idea that developed to help us capture and convey this model to our congregations was to organise a pilgrimage. A standard definition of pilgrimage, is ‘a journey of moral or spiritual significance’. Rather than holy sites, pilgrims to Jamaica would explore a landscape scarred by moral failures, every 17th -19th church building a reminder that the gospel was preached with a view of sugar plantations.

In April, representatives of the URC, Scottish Episcopal Church, and Church of Scotland visited Jamaica and documented experiences that could help congregations back home understand the significance of the bond linking our islands. Each denomination was at different stages of their journey toward apology and reparation, allowing the group to learn from each other along the way.

The pilgrimage was transformative, offering diverse activities that deepened our understanding of Jamaica’s socio-economic and religious-political contexts. We visited churches, schools, villages, and government institutions, engaging in meaningful conversations with UCJCI leaders and ecumenical representatives. These interactions provided insights into Jamaica’s current challenges and led to open discussions on the legacy of enslavement and colonialism. They reinforced our commitment to partnership and collaboration, laying the groundwork for future initiatives.

The pilgrimage prioritised educational visits as a key component of CRAF’s plan. These visits included rural and urban schools, and the University of the West Indies. It also included museums and memorials that CRAF’s programme aims to ensure schools are funded to visit. Excelsior High in Kingston, a Methodist school known for its educational excellence, was among those visited. After worship with Excelsior students, CRAF presented books on emancipation and freedom for the school library. The school’s dedication to and ambition for every student was evident. The displays showcasing the global impact of reggae music and highlighting Afro-Caribbean leaders and philosophers gave us a taste of CRAF’s vision to reimagine education for the whole of Jamaica. CRAF aims to reshape Jamaica’s curriculum to celebrate Black thinkers and leaders, fostering pride and connection to African civilisations predating European colonialism, and emphasising roots that go far deeper than the period of enslavement.

On a visit to First Hill primary in the hills above Jackson Town, we met with the teaching staff to discover the challenges and joys of teaching in a rural setting. The pride and belief in their students were overt, but the challenges were painful to hear. Without pausing to think, when asked about the issues their students faced, the teachers agreed that bleaching was one of the hardest to address. Parents are bleaching their children’s skin in order to help them avoid discrimination referred to as Colourism. The teachers were frank: until Jamaica has politicians, news readers, pop icons and bankers with darker complexions then this would continue. Colourism is a direct result of the institution of enslavement where enslaved Africans were categorised by the shade of their skin. Lighter skin increased the ‘value’ of a person and the safer jobs were reserved for paler skinned Africans. The legacy of this categorisation has become a core signifier of class and wealth in contemporary Jamaica. This revelation and the attempt to imagine small children having their skin forcibly damaged by chemicals because of the ridiculous ideas of centuries old White racism, was appalling for every member of our pilgrim group.

The visit to the University of the West Indies included a meeting with Professor Hilary Beckles, the vice chancellor and a prominent advocate for financial reparations for the Caribbean. Professor Beckles discussed the ongoing impacts of slavery on contemporary Jamaicans, particularly health inequalities resulting from the exploitative policies of historical plantation societies, known as plantocracies. These societies, dominated by White plantation owners, imposed limited diets on enslaved Africans and dedicated the entire crop for export. This meant that food consumed in Jamaica relied on imports like cheap salted cod and herring from Britain, along with ackee, a fruit from West Africa, foods that formed the basis of Jamaica’s national dish, ackee and salt fish. Alongside the salty foods that survived into emancipation, agriculture in Jamaica was focused on sugar production. This left Jamaicans with a diet high in sugar and salt, leading to severe health issues. Jamaica now has high rates of diabetes-related amputations and blindness.

One of the most impactful aspects of our pilgrimage was the opportunity to engage directly with artefacts. We read from an original slave register, saw iron shackles and horrendous torture devices in the Jamaican Institute. Knowing that someone diligent and bureaucratic with beautiful handwriting could record the ‘value’ of human lives alongside horses and cattle was sickening. This encounter was directly preceded by viewing portraits of enslavers pointing vaguely in the direction of ‘property’ in Jamaica’s National Gallery. While seeing such things were hard for all of us, encounters with the physical remains provided a vital window into uncomfortable truths.

The pilgrimage’s emotional and spiritual journey culminated in an ecumenical service of lament and reconciliation. During the service, the Rt Rev Dr Henry-Robinson of the URC presented a statement of confession and apology accepted by their 2022 General Assembly. The service, filled with music, dance, prayer, and creative liturgy, captured the pilgrimage’s themes of lament and repentance. The apology and commitment to reparation, along with the moving response from UCJCI Moderator Gary Harriott, provided a powerful vision of reconciliation between UK and Caribbean churches. As Church of Scotland representatives we were privileged to witness and absorb this impactful moment as we work towards our own apology.

At the end of the pilgrimage, we returned with a deeper appreciation for the hospitality and resilience of the Jamaican people, a heightened awareness of ongoing justice struggles, and a renewed commitment to advocacy. We hope the information and experiences gathered will help the Church of Scotland develop a meaningful process for issuing an apology and resources for congregations and Presbyteries to engage with the issue of enslavement and reparations.

Witnessing CRAF’s commitment to holistic transformation highlighted the potential of Churches choosing to seize this Kairos moment. To face the difficult truths in our past that continue to mark the present, to truly repent and in doing so, work towards healing and reconciliation.