Reparations

The 227^th Convention passed Resolution R-10a in November 2021, which committed the Diocese to create a $10,000,000 fund for reparations to benefit Black, Indigenous, and peoples of color communities.

The resolution cites that “the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia have a long history of support for and complicity with chattel slavery, violence against Indigenous peoples and land, segregation and other racist systems.” It further acknowledges that the Diocese “is home to numerous church buildings constructed by enslaved people, and many parishes within the Diocese of Virginia are grappling with their history of support for slavery and white supremacy, and their ongoing complicity in racial injustice.”

R-10a directs the Bishop to create a Task Force on Reparations “to identify and propose means by which repair may begin for those areas of our structures, patterns, and common life by which Black, Indigenous, People of Color ….still carry the burden of injustices, exclusions, and biases born out of white supremacy and the legacy of slavery.” Click to read frequently asked questions about R-10a. 

Learn more about the Task Force on Reparations.

 

The Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton's Presentation on Reparations in the Diocese of Maryland

Bishop Sutton, Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland, gave the following presentation to the 228th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Virginia.