Future Archbishop of York Sentamu Attacks Racism in Church of England

The first black archbishop has attacked racism in the Church of England, saying that the Church is infected with institutional racism and is still a place of “pain” for many black Anglicans.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop-designate of York, has criticised fellow Church leaders in the foreword of a new book, for failing to deal with discrimination in the organisation properly.

Dr Sentamu will soon be enthroned as the second most senior cleric in the Church hierarchy and his comments will carry an impact to the Church. He is certainly expected by many to place racism, one of the Church’s most sensitive issues, as one of the main focuses of his agenda whilst in office.

Another black bishop, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, complained of racism when an unnamed cleric called him a "Paki papist" while a successor to Dr George Carey at Canterbury was being chosen by the Church in 2002.

‘Rejection, Resistance and Resurrection’, the new book to which Dr Sentamu contributed to, tells the true story of the rejection felt by many black Anglicans and speaks out on racism in the Church. The book, written by Mukti Barton, the adviser on black and Asian ministries to the Bishop of Birmingham, portrays racism as a “deadly poison” spread unconsciously by white Christians. The book states that black people in the clergy are significantly under represented.

In the foreword of the new book launched next month in Birmingham cathedral, Dr Sentamu said: "The stories in this book speak of the pain of what it is to undergo institutional racism.

"The cost is in terms of the lives of people who are hampered in their growth into the image of God created in them."

Dr Sentamu is a former high court judge of Uganda and had fled the Id Amin regime to become the Bishop of Birmingham. He has been a powerful speaker against racism for decades.