
photo by Kripa Chettiar
On Saturday, March 25 from 12 – 2 p.m., the Episcopal Diocese of New York will gather for a Service of Apology for Slavery at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112th Street).
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This event is taking place because of the church’s historical ties to the slave trade. “Churches in the city were constructed by the labor of enslaved African Americans whose descendants were routinely refused equal participation in worship, even after Emancipation,” a statement from St. John the Divine explains.
In addition to the “ritual atonement” represented by the service, the Diocese has also pledged to continue the fight against racism with a $1.1 million investment which its Reparations Commission will use to “work to repair the historic and contemporary damage done to people of African descent.”

c/o The Cathedral of St. John the Divine
We followed up to ask how the money would be spent. A church representative said they’d be “analyzing how [to best] put the funds towards ongoing racial reconciliation in the Diocese. The $1.1 million will help support their work as they continue to build upon the Service of Apology and beyond.”
The Service of Apology for Slavery will be held in person at the Cathedral and live-streamed on its website, Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Where can I send my donation? I hope the Church gives the money to Black Lives Matter so that the national BLM can purchase more luxurious homes for their private use and spend it on first-class travel for their family vacations, as has been well-documented. Moreover, this cash can be used by BLM to purchase bricks and arson materials for the riots that BLM organizes, where they burn down black-owned businesses.
And so the “too woke” nitwits have spoken. How nice.
A salient feature of true stupidity, is that a truly stupid person is too dumb to understand how idiotic they appear to others. There is no logical connection between an apology for slavery in New York, and one’s ill-informed opinion of the BLM organization. To set the record straight here, one highly placed person in BLM is alleged to have misused funds and is being sued over his conduct. His alleged bad conduct does not reflect on the entire organization or its mission. The BLM organization does not organize riots. What is your IQ, and who told you that your attempts at sarcasm would do anything other than make you look like a racist half-wit?
“Well documented” lol! Perhaps on your Q anon message boards. As bugs bunny used to say, What a maroooon!
I wish someone would apologize to me for having to constantly hear about this nonsense. When will the apologies to the Jews, Italians, Armenian and everyone else start?
Wow. They keep saying we should worry about AI. I think this shows that the real problem are FI’s like you!
Awww, are your feelings hurt Snowflake?! Poor baby. The truth hurts.
I’m Italian American. My grandfather was never kidnapped, forced to come here, and enslaved. We never had laws that made us 2nd class citizens. My grandfather lived in a nice suburban Yonkers neighborhood where black people weren’t ALLOWED to live.
Other immigrant groups were persecuted. But the persecution suffered by other immigrant groups was entirely different from what was done to black people, What was done to them was unique, and no other group was made to suffer.
What actual good comes from these apologies? Seems like an apology reduces ‘badwill’, but I’m not sure there’s any other effect.
Apparently it makes someone feel good. Not quite sure who though. Oh well, problem solved! Moving on… lol
Wow. I am shocked by this comment feed. So much anger and racism and apparent misinformation. So little love and reflection.