Truth and Reconciliation, Dollars and Cents

 

Joseph Stewart, president of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, holding a cross with cotton that he picked as a child in Louisiana.Credit...Saul Martinez for The New York Times

In recent decades there has been a growing call for reparations to colonialized and enslaved peoples in North America. This is essentially financial compensation to the descendants of those who were evicted from their traditional lands, those who were the victims of cultural genocide, and those who were used as enforced labourers in agriculture and other settings. In Canada the conversations have been largely with Indigenous peoples while in the United States they include those whose forbears were slaves. Too often religious institutions, including our United Church of Canada, were complicit with governments in this shameful behaviour. 

Five years ago we heard that in the 19th century the Roman Catholic Jesuits which created Georgetown University in Washington DC were grappling with their history of slave ownership. Not only did the order own slaves who worked it's land in nearby Maryland, during a period of financial crisis 272 slaves were sold to raise funds, including children. Many of these Black human beings were Roman Catholics whose children had been baptized by priests and who attended Mass. The Jesuits believed that these enslaved people had souls, yet could be bought and sold. 

A few days ago there was an announcement that a fund of $100 million has been established to compensate the roughly 5,000 living descendants of those who were enslaved by the Jesuits of Georgetown. The order has already committed $15 million and will endeavour to raise the balance. This is an important step in redressing a terrible wrong. Georgetown is not alone. There are other Roman Catholic orders and a number of US universities which have begun the process of compensating the descendants of those who were enslaved.

The United Church has paid financial compensation to some of  the Indigenous persons harmed by the Residential School System in Canada, which is apart from the compensation program of the federal government. In addition there is a UCC Healing Fund, to which members of the UCC were invited to contribute, and a Justice and Reconciliation Fund.

These financial responses to injustices are essential, as are the official apologies of governments and religious bodies. The honest work of Truth and Reconciliation must go beyond dollars to repentance, healing, and reconciliation. 

A document inside St. Ignatius Church in Port Tobacco, Md., lists the names of the enslaved people sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep Georgetown University afloat.Credit...Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times