Page 7 - Moravian Messenger January 2020

in 1562, British traders had been already similarly involved. The truth is that the British perfected the art of rupture and destruction of African communities for a period of about 250 years. The forced relocation and enslavement were formally outlawed 1833 and came into force in 1834.
We're here today because we must face the truth and speak it in love for memory, healing and hope. It would be reprehensible not to remember the African forebears, whom over that period of time were captured, chained, robbed of their freedom and dignity, treated as cargo and shipped in squalor and dehumanising conditions and forced to work in plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, without remuneration
There's another truth that we need to speak on this issue of the trading of enslaved Africans. There was strong opposition to it here in NI and that truth must not be forgotten. That opposition prevented Wadell Cunningham from having his way in making Belfast a trading port for enslaved Africans. That opposition enabled organisations here to welcome Equiano and Frederick Douglass, themselves freed from enslavement when it was still being supported by the British Government.
The only pity is that the opposition to the enslavement of Africans didn't extend to arguing for their compensation for at the time of abolition, people on this Island alone held over 16,000 Africans in enslavement. The truth that the British government compensated those plantation owners and gave nothing to the 16,000 from whom so much was taken. That's a shame but that's the truth.
Notice of Synod
The Provincial Board hereby give notice that Synod in 2020 will be held at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick between Thursday 9th July and Monday 13th July 2020 inclusive. Please note that we meet on the Thursday not the Friday as at previous Synods.
The timetable for submission of Credentials, Memorials, Nominations, Proposals and Reports is as follows: -
1. Congregation Deputies' Credential Form to be at Church House by 31st March 2020 (2.3.a.3). Deputies will not be expected to bring a copy with them to Synod.
2. Class A Proposals * must be notified to the Provincial Board by 8th April 2020 (2.3.b.1).
3. Class B Proposals * must be notified to the Provincial Board by 20th May 2020 (2.3.b.2).
4. Reports and Memorials must be sent to Church House by 20th May 2020.
5. Nomination Forms for Provincial Board and Provincial Committees to be at Church House by 27th May 2020 (2.4.i.5.1).
Synod Papers will be distributed and sent out all those attending by 15th June 2020.
Note *:
1. Class A - Proposals that affect and become part of the Book of Order of the Moravian Church in the British Province.
2. Class B - Proposals which are not to be incorporated in the Book of Order of the Moravian Church in the British Province.
3. Proposals which have not been duly notified under the Book of Order 2.3.b.2 above will only be given a place on the Agenda paper if:
a. They are regarding matters which have arisen since the last date for the submission of proposals, or
b. They are in response to issues current at the time of Synod, or
c. They arise at Synod, and
d. Synod agrees by show of hands that they be included on the Agenda paper.
Conclusion
There are those for whom this act of recall is uncomfortable either because of shame or guilt. However, to imagine that we can simply move on, forgetting the injustice, which laid the foundation for the racism that is alive and well in our time, that laid the foundation for the human trafficking that we see today; to avoid a recall of those centuries of injustice would be to reinvent, revise and re-do the injustice to those forbears.
Given the role of enslaved Africans in helping Britain to amass its wealth in 18th and 19th centuries, a wealth that allows modern Britain to boast about its strength in the world, the least we can do is to pause and remember them.
And I say to those who want us to move on, we will move on when the racism of our time ends, for that African tragedy is the foundation of British racism today. I say to them, when modern day slavery ends, we will move on for that enslavement of Africans that is the model for slavery today.
Each generation of people who feel it is ok to be racist must be reminded that this country enslaved
black people to build its wealth. That
is a shame but that is the truth; and I
say it for our awareness with no rancour or hatred or bitterness. I say it with love.
Br Livingstone Thompson
Minister at University Road and Kilwarlin Moravian Churches and member of the Provincial Board
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