Adderbury talk to explore reparations
'Should the focus be on reparations for the past, or on current issues such as loss and damage, health, education, economic inequalities…? Or both?'
Banbury and Evesham Quakers are focusing on reparations this month, as part of their annual public talk at the historic Adderbury Meeting House.
The talk on 18 June by Quaker Ann Floyd will explore reparations for historical injustices, particularly slavery and colonialism, and how to respond to the current challenges, from a Quaker perspective.
Amanda Howson, on behalf of Banbury and Evesham Area Meeting, told the Friend: ‘The legacies of slavery, the slave trade and colonialism are topics of current debate in Britain and elsewhere. Quakers are one of many groups thinking about how the current generation ought to respond. Should the focus be on reparations for the past, or on current issues such as loss and damage, health, education, economic inequalities…? Or both? How should we go about whatever we do? How does this look to those we want to support, and whose agenda is it? British Quakers have begun exploring all this both among ourselves and with Quakers in Africa. This talk will be a personal take on the journey so far and what the next steps might be.’
A member of Jordans Quaker Meeting in Buckinghamshire, Ann Floyd is involved in Quaker work nationally and internationally. Most of her professional life was as an academic at the Open University, and she has long-standing links to Africa. She was a mathematics teacher in Uganda, and had other academic connections.
Adderbury Meeting House is one of the oldest in the country, built in 1675. Amanda Howson described it as ‘a very special place, little changed by the passing of time’.
The talk ‘Reparations for historical injustices: A Quaker take’ will start at 3pm.
