This event has been submitted by the Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees’ Reparation Working Group.

The BYM Trustees’ Reparation Working Group invites Friends to join a day of learning, reflection, and discernment through to the findings of the Historical and Theological Workstreams. We start with the call to action in Minutes 27 and 33 of Yearly Meeting 2022:

Love and justice require us to tell the truth, as best we can, about historic and contemporary injustices. We encourage local and area meetings to begin, or continue, work to understand how Quakers and Quaker structures benefitted from the transatlantic slave trade.

and

We have heard that love and justice also require us to consider deeply how the Society of Friends in Britain might make financial and other reparation for our part in the wrongs of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

We have come to understand that we must first seek the truth, both in the past and the present. Telling the truth about history and listening carefully to the lived experiences and enduring legacies of enslavement and trafficking of Africans across the Atlantic enables us to comprehend what needs to be repaired. This also requires us to recognise how the past harms of enslavement, colonialism and exploitation continue to shape lives, communities, systems and inequalities today.

This conference will offer space not only to confront discomforting histories, but also to consider how truth-telling, accountability, and spiritual discernment can help shape more hopeful and faithful futures. The learnings shared at this conference will help Friends prepare for discussions on reparation at November Yearly Meeting.

To register go to:  Truth and repair – our Quaker journey towards justice. | Quakers in Britain