Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair

In the wake of unending racist injustices in the U.S., how should predominately white churches respond? Two evangelicals, Kwon (pastor, Grace Meridian Hill) and Thompson (executive dir., Voices Underground), urge churches to take seriously the imperative for reparations. Their conclusion is based on the conviction that white supremacy has been ingrained in the U.S. from its founding to the present day, and that slavery is theft that has gone unaddressed. Kwon and Thompson explain how white supremacy is maintained and reinforced by structures and institutions; they particularly emphasize that white churches have benefited from white supremacy. The book also explains that Christianity has a history of making reparations as a means of reconciling wrongs. Regardless of the nation’s response to racism, Kwon and Thompson say, white-led churches are obligated to repent of all three aspects of racist theft, which is explicated in terms of labor, heritage, and power. Neither Kwon nor Thompson are Black, but their ministries have worked for this kind of reconciliation. Black people also tell their own stories throughout this book and make recommendations.