The Church of England has come under fire from the country’s race watchdog for failing to demolish slave-related monuments.
According to the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice’s report, the Church continues to subject worshippers to racial injustice and harm.
It specifically mentions a recent ruling that required Jesus College in Cambridge to retain a monument honoring Tobias Rustat, a slave trader who gained money in the 17th century.
The question of what to do with monuments associated with the slave trade is a “pressing matter” that is a “source of great hurt to many,” according to commission chairman Lord Boateng, who served as the UK’s first black Cabinet minister and chief secretary to the Treasury under Tony Blair’s administration in 2002.
The former Labour minister expressed her profound grief and pain in the report, saying, “I must begin by sharing a sense of deep hurt and of pain that has been faced in this process.”
This encompasses the suffering of people who have endured and currently experience racial injustice at the hands of the Church of England, its practices, and institutions.
A study of racism and the disclosure of injustice, he continued, “is frequently one of denial and defensiveness or obscurity and delay.” This needs to be contested.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, hailed the report’s conclusions as “highly welcomed,” noting that “this report highlights the tough and lengthy path to removing the sorrow and injustice felt by so many.”
The Consistory Court, an antiquated ecclesiastical court that often handles exhumations and disagreements over grave markers but is now forced to decide on slavery monuments, is being called for improvements in the study.
According to the Commission, the pain caused by the Rustat case cannot be discounted.
Due to concerns that the name “The Colony” could be interpreted as a reference to slavery, Cambridge College has changed the name to “Castle Court” for its student residences.
Campaigners asserted that any mention of Britain’s imperial heritage could turn away applicants from ethnic minorities.