Sean Major-Campbell | Prosperity Donkey and Emancipation

THE SAME Bible that was used and abused in keeping the enslaved under oppression, is the same one that contains and affirms the good news of freedom and dignity for all human beings. After the Haitian Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue, and renamed it Haiti.

In 1804, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a formerly enslaved man of African lineage (surnamed after a free man of colour who had bought Jean-Jacques and gave him, his surname) assumed dictatorial power, and Haiti became the second independent nation in the Americas! Three years later the Slave Bible was born.

The Church in the Province of the West Indies, uses the particularly assigned lections for the celebration of Emancipation in our various territories, to include – Exodus 6:2-13; Psalm 114; Philemon 8-21; and Luke 4:16-19.

One can understand why it would not make political sense to have the oppressed and frustrated enslaved Africans hearing such that God had told Moses, to tell Pharaoh to, “Let my people go.” Instead, the cherished message from the planter class would have been, “Slaves, obey your masters.”

The slave Bible would not have promoted kindness to the enslaved as Paul advocated. Check out the one-chapter only Book of Philemon. What a study in heartfelt advocacy! Paul was navigating a sharp divide in class structure. He wrote to Philemon a wealthy Christian believer who was a slave owner, asking him to forgive and take back the returned runaway enslaved Onesimus, now also a Christian believer.

Was this the Onesimus that the early church father Ignatius mentioned in letters to the city of Ephesus? If so, he would have been an Ephesian bishop in a society where only the gospel would have propelled a man of such low rank to become a leader in society!

At this time of critical social change in Jamaica, we do well to listen to voices of advocacy which advance respect for autonomy, self-determination, agency, care and protection for the weak, the voiceless, and the oppressed. It has been sad to see the disregard for institutions and organisations tasked with advancing the cause of good governance, human rights and justice in Jamaica. Agents of the state must be careful about undermining the voice of human rights and justice.

It has always been an inconvenience to have to balance in serving the status quo while listening respectfully to calls for good governance. It is not easy in a bly-culture to always be having the ever present eye of an integrity commission or human rights groups which are challenging the powers that be to stay in line with the dictates of law and good governance. And then there is the matter of compassion amid human realities.

The Haitian situation with refuges anywhere in the region continues to be so sad. Here are people, our brothers and sisters who are trying to escape oppression, mayhem, anarchy, and bloodshed which prevails in some sections of Haiti! On the one hand, the court must understandably operate within the law. Conversely, compassion and love dictate that we be humane to Jean-Jacques’ people who continue to suffer from a history of brutality and crimes against humanity rooted in the genesis of the holocaust and genocide of slavery! Reparatory justice cannot come too soon for Haiti!

The gospel according to Luke, has Jesus proclaiming from the prophet Isaiah, “‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’”

Again, words of liberation. Words of emancipation.

Last Sunday marked the 131st anniversary of the birth of Haile Selassie who said, “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

This Sunday is Emancipation Sunday. Next Sunday will be Independence Sunday. These are opportunities for us to truly reflect on our capacity for self-respect and due regard for others and the less privileged.

Maybe Prosperity Donkey presents us with an image that calls us back to basics. The basics of humbly assessing our reality. Knowing what we truly need and asking only for what will make practical change to life and living. The basics of knowing that the privileged must help the struggling and honest brother or sister who just wants to live a clean, comfortable life like everyone else. This Emancipation 2023, we could also do with an Emancipation Donkey that carries the substance of Constitutional reform and the road map for Republic Jamaica.

Do some thinking, reading, listening and reflecting today in preparation for action.

Let us pray: Liberating God, whose service is perfect freedom, Who delivered your people Israel from slavery in Egypt; we thank You for delivering the people of these lands out of enslavement into freedom and we pray that by Your help we will preserve our freedom, respect and defend the freedom of others, through him by Whom we are made free, Your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

- Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest and advocate for human dignity and human rights. Send feedback to seanmajorcampbell@ yahoo.com