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by Guy Hewitt
The reported comments by Lord Ranger, a Tory Party donor, that the UK will be seen as “racist” if Rishi Sunak is not made the next Prime Minister, overlooks the reality that systemic racism is rife in the UK.
The fact that Black British males died from COVID-19 at a rate 3.7 times greater than for their White counterparts reveals the endemicity.
The social code that affirms stoicism and derides ‘whingers’ makes it even more challenging to confront the pandemic of racism.
Charles W Mills, a London-born West Indian philosopher, in his writings on the “unholy trinity” of race, gender and class argues that while considerable progress has been made on many issues, liberalism’s promise of equal rights has been denied to ‘people of colour.’
The Church of England, through the Commission on Racial Justice, set up following the Archbishops’ Antiracism Task Force report, From Lament to Action, is committed to eradicating institutional racism.
It will be an uphill task as Lord Boateng notes in the Commission’s first report that “the response to an examination of racism and the exposure of injustice is often one of denial and defensiveness or obscuration and delay…”
There may be a need for a campaign on racism awareness akin to mental health campaigns that raise awareness to the fact mental ill health is an issue which, directly and indirectly, affects many in our society.
While the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, does not refer to Sunday’s appointed Gospel Luke 13:10-17 in his 1964 book “Why We Can’t Wait,” the nexus is clear.
This title could also be an appropriate title for the declarations our Lord Jesus Christ makes in this biblical passage.
The passage features our Lord’s scathingly succinct admonishment of the Jewish leader’s objection to not observing the Sabbath according to Deut. 5:12-15.
We mustn’t see this story of a woman’s debilitating condition as “just another healing story,” for at its core according to theologian Matthew Skinner, is “a story about what God intends…[and]… the urgency of seeing God’s intentions brought to pass without delay.”
Consistent with Matthew 5:17-20, our Lord seeks to fulfil the Law, particularly the Law of Love (1 John 4:16): that nothing can be gained by consigning a fellow human being to even one more day of unnecessary torment.
To perpetuate injustice is to defile the holiness of the weekly Sabbath day that God ordained. To deny freedom is to offend the God of the Exodus.
Dr King’s publication includes his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written in response to eight local white clergymen who had criticised his activities in Birmingham and appealed for a more patient and restrained approach to lobbying for civil rights.
The “Letter” expresses his deep disappointment with the ‘white moderate,’ who “paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.”
Nearly 60 years later Dr King’s words remain relevant.
In today’s Gospel, our Lord confronts the social evil of his time, gender discrimination.
In a world where women were ‘lesser’, he identifies, heals, and restores this woman to the community. With this unfathomable act, he confronts the power that would oppress, subdue, or enslave, in order to make room for the power of love.
Our Christian calling is a call to love: to love God and our neighbour.
The indelible link between our faith and public life is reinforced at baptism with our vow to defend the weak, and to seek peace and justice.
However, while we readily proclaim these words, it is harder for many Christians and institutions of faith to truly live by
this promise.
In the UK, persons of African ancestry, ignoring the vile slurs, have gone from ‘Blacks,’ to ‘Coloured’, to BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic), to UKME to GMH (Global Majority Heritage).
The challenge with this, political correctness aside, is that the moment we use any kind of label for a group of people, there is a point of differentiation and even segregation.
It strikes me how often in the scriptures people like the bent over woman are left nameless. In knowing a name, we begin to know a person and as we get to know a person labels become that less relevant.
Institutional racism is a clear and present social and economic danger in the UK.
While it is easy to point to the obvious and overt racism of some regimes such as Apartheid South Africa, it is sometime less easy to notice the insidious acts close-by such as the proposed Nationality and Boarders Bill that would deprive someone of their citizenship without prior notification.
This like the 1981 National Act, adversely affected the rights of People of Colour.
Today’s Gospel calls on us to reconsider and reaffirm our Confirmation vow and to seek peace and justice, particularly for the most vulnerable so that we, the living brinks of the Church, the body of Christ, can become truly one in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Guy Hewitt is a London-based minister of religion.
