As debates about Britain’s history, race, and responsibility continue to surface, Quakers in Britain have co-hosted a discussion in Parliament exploring what reparations might mean in practice.
The event took the title ‘Approaches to Reparations: Faith-Based, Community, and Grassroots Perspectives’. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on African Reparations co-hosted and Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP chaired.
It brought together faith leaders, community organisers, and racial justice advocates. They took part in an open conversation about accountability, repair, and justice in a UK context.
Reparations are a process
Interest in reparations for African chattel enslavement has grown in recent years. And particularly since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. Yet the UK continues to struggle with how, or whether, to respond.
In 2024, the Canary published a stinging letter from academic Gus John to then foreign secretary David Lammy. He described reparations as “a process, not a single act”. And he accused the government of “insisting that this is all in the past”.
Recent pushback against the new Archbishop of Canterbury for defending the Church of England’s programme for repairing the harms of African chattel enslavement underlined how contested these conversations remain.
Panellist Richard Reddie, director of justice and inclusion at Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, said:
There is a great deal of literature in the Bible that makes the case for reparations.
Kojo Kyerewaa, national organiser for Black Lives Matter UK, said:
We need to relate reparations to the daily lives of people, and make the links between that which they already know about what is unjust and reparations as a liberatory pathway.
That way we can begin to reshape the world towards justice, and we deserve nothing less.
Quakers in Britain agreed in 2022 to consider making practical reparations for the transatlantic trade in enslaved people, colonialism, and economic exploitation.
Marghuerita Remi-Judah, co-clerk of the Quakers in Britain Trustees’ Reparations Working Group, said:
We need to name our part in the history.
The Quaker testimony is one of peace…enslavement was violence, antithetical to peace.
The decision followed years of research, listening, and discernment. And it reflects a wider commitment to anti-racism, truth-telling, and action rooted in faith.
The panel, which also included Reverend Wale Hudson-Roberts, head of racial justice for the Baptist Union, explored how reparations work has developed from grassroots and local initiatives.
Panellists discussed the role of education and community leadership, and how institutions respond to difficult questions and resistance.
Featured image via Michael Preston for Quakers in Britain













As much as I abhor any form of Racism Slavery and Deportations for Petty Crime Two Hundred Years Ago I fail to understand why Reparations are being demanded from Britain and America, These were not the only Slavers in History The Romans, The Arabs, The French The Spanish The African Tribes themselves were in the Slave Trade, I do not believe Reparations will solve anything or is it Only About MONEY and Shit Loads of it that will make the difference, Then What will this be spread equally across the World of every Family with proof of a Slave Ancestors or will the Majority of the Trillions be split between the Lawyers and KC’, I’m Scots/Irish My Highland Ancestors had to Flee from Skye to Ireland to prevent from being enslaved imprisoned executed or deported, All the Clans who fought on The Right Side were victims of English Brutality, At Culloden Moor the English Redcoats and Parts of the Scots Clan Campbell ripped unborn babies from their mothers wombs threw them into the air and spitted them on their Bayonets, they did the same to children women and young girls were raped to Death, The English Boast about all their Waterloo’s and Trafalgar’s they don’t mention Culloden Moor very often, So what about Reparations for Scotland, And Ireland, Wales, and British Born Australians, The White British sent to the Colonies to Slave in Mines and Fields then locked in crowded stinking cells after their toil, What about the Families of these People ripped from their homes and families and sent to slave in the Colonies because they stole a loaf of bread or some potatoes turnips carrots or apples to feed their Starving Families, The Insidious People to Blame for The Rise of Slavery are Long Dead A lot of white Peoples need to be held accountable for today’s horrific crimes against Coloured People and the Ancestral Peoples of all Colours the World Over, These White Peoples are mainly RICH AND POWERFUL or in positions of Authority from top to bottom of all World Leaders down to the equally Vile Vicious Murdering Corrupt Secret Service Agents and the Police, Where is these trillions of Dollars and Pounds going to come from do Any of You even Think about that, Do You Think it’s gonna come from All the Corrupt Big Families of the Empire or The Families of Every Early POTUS except John Adam’s and his Son, All the Families of Senators Members of the House of Representatives, NO ALL REPARATIONS WILL BE PAID FOR BY THE TAX PAYERS OF THE WORLD, And once again THE RICH AND POWERFUL SIT BACK AND LAUGH AT US, We deserve all we get because the Majority of the Population’s around the World are STUPID AND WEAK. Myself I Say Loud and Clear The Tax Payers Are Not Responsible and therefore We make the Multi Billionaire’s, Billionaire’s, and Multi Millionaire’s Pay every Penny this Lobby Want’s, Where and When are we the People going to stop this madness and nonsense brought about by Charlatans making billions from the pretence they care about the CAUSE think about it the real Victims are Long Gone and their Families will get a Pittance if indeed they get anything, The Rich and the Greedy Corrupt Politicians and Legal Professionals will make FORTUNES for DOING NOTHING.
“There is a great deal of literature in the Bible that supports reparations.” Where is the Scriptural support for this conclusion? The Bible, at Ecclesiastes 8 v 9, King Solomon clearly states ‘man dominates man to his injury’. The histories of every nation, regardless of skin colour, supports the truthfulness’s of Solomon’s conclusion. All mankind has suffered injustice as a result of abuse of power by those ruling over them. Jeremiah 10 v 23 ‘it does not belong to a man who is walking even to direct his step……,’. The context indicates humans were not created to rule over other humans.. The Bible does provide the solution to the problem at Daniel 2 v 44 – all human governments and rulerships will be destroyed forever, and be replaced with the Kingdom Jesus taught his followers to pray for. Reparations for some would’ still leave billions suffering injustice, will not bring an end to wars, or racial divisions. In what is referred to as the Old Testament, an eye for an eye, repaying back to a person what was stolen, etc, was to restore the victim to the same position as he/she was in before an act of injustice. The perpetrator was the one who had to make restitution, not the community. It seems to me people should check out for themselves what the Bible really says about a lot of things!