wfn.org | United Church of Christ dedicates bell in apology for slavery

[George Conklin <gconklin@wfn.org>]

United Church of Christ
Office of Communication
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115
contact: Barbara Powell
phone: 216-736-2222
email: powellb@ucc.org
http://www.ucc.org

PROVIDENCE, RI - July 6 1999 - 
Bell tolls in apology for slavery
by Clifford L. Willis
        Water turned out to be both the symbol of America’s troubled past and
its hopeful future during an Act of Repentance for AfricanAmerican slavery
today at Abbott Park.
        A fountain gently dribbled water in central Abbott Park while host
members of Beneficent Congregational UCC served cups of cool water to thirsting
visitors from the UCC’s General Synod and the Providence, R.I., community.
Water running free and water served were strange contrasts to the troubled
waters crossed by Africans more than 100 years ago as part of the New England
slave trade.
        “We cannot change history,” said the Rev. H. Daehler Hayes, Rhode
Island
Conference Minister, but “we can have a different history in the future.” 
        The day’s observance included the dedication of a bell in the park,
signifying repentance for the area’s role in the “triangle trade” slave system
and commitment to human freedom and justice in the world.
        This isn’t just AfricanAmerican history, said keynote speaker Keith
Stokes. “It’s American history.” The executive director of the Newport Chamber
of Commerce shared that Newport, Providence and Bristol were three important
points of entry for slaves from Africa.
        The first documented slave ship to Rhode Island  the Sea Flower  docked
at Newport in 1696. Upon leaving Africa with human cargo, those ships also
brought rum from the West Indies to the U.S.  forming a triangular slave route.
Stokes called this era a “horrendous chapter in the world and in American
history.”
        The Chamber of Commerce director praised the contributions of early
Congregationalist leaders, Ezra Stiles and Samuel Hopkins. They were the first
two Christian leaders to speak out for the abolition of slavery, Stokes said.
The men, both pastors of prominent Newport congregations, required that church
members relinquish their slaves and allow them to become members of the
respective congregations.
        Besides Congregationalists, represented by Styles, Hopkins and others,
area Quakers and Baptists also were active in the abolitionist movement.
        It is appropriate this Fourth of July holiday to take time to repent,
said the UCC’s Bernice Powell Jackson in remarks after Stokes address. The time
of repentance, however, is just a moment, a token, said Jackson. There is no
way to make right the bloodshed, lives lost and families broken by the tragedy
of American slavery.
        Blood continues to shed in the United States and abroad, even today,
added the new executive minister for justice and witness ministries. “There is
much to repent for — today.”
        While acknowledging complicity in the evils of slavery, “we do not
wallow in it,” said Massachusetts Conference Minister, the Rev. Bennie Whiten.
“God calls us to engage in fruits of repentance.
        The day’s act of repentance is but a symbol, Whiten admitted. But
“symbols do participate in a reality.” That reality, he said, is reconciliation
for all of God’s people. 
        The reconciliation theme was further played out in a reading of
excerpts
from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech by Vermont
Conference Minister Arnold Thomas. The mouths of several persons on hand moved
silently and in unison as he covered more memorable portions of the historic
speech.
        The activity was capped with a moving prayer by the Rev. Richard
Thomas,
pastor of Beneficent Congregational UCC, the celebrative peals of the
newlydedicated bell nearby, and the joyous march of all those present around
Abbott Park.