Dear sibling in Christ,
On March 25, 2026, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution A/80/L.48, declaring the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans a “gravest crime against humanity.” Sponsored by Ghana, it passed with 123 votes, urging member states to consider apologies, reparations, and the return of stolen cultural items. Three nations voted against the resolution (the US, Israel, and Argentina) and 52 nations abstained, including the UK, Canada, and EU member states. The abstentions’ argument was that it should not be held responsible for things that happened in the past by a different generation.
Humph. Hmmm.
The African American Church has a history of being dispensationalists largely for the reasons displayed in the voting around this Resolution in particular. We have conditioned ourselves to not receiving justice in this life and so we look forward to experiencing it in the next, frankly. Believing in and depending on the just nature of God and a Judgment Day to come is why we have yet to burn it all down. The world needs to understand this. We need an apocalypse—the Apocalypse—to make sense of the continual injustice, oppression, subjugation and hatred we still endure because of a system of slavery that enriched nations for nearly five centuries now off the blood and bones of our people. It’s either that or DMX’s “Party Up,” there can be NO in between. Because let’s be honest, what could even be an “in between”?
It is not lost on me that mostly Christian nations voted against or abstained from voting on this resolution. Many of these nations happened to be the chief beneficiaries of the transatlantic slave trade and the wealth generated by this trade undergirds the backbone of all of these economies still. This generation may not be the cause of the trade but this generation does not mind enjoying the multi-generational benefits of said trade. Once again, these nations are choosing to set aside their “Christian values” and forget the biblical truth that all iniquity comes home to roost. I use the term iniquity because this vote is a poignant illustration of this kind and quality of sin. This resolution could have been the start of multi-national repentance but instead key nations chose to double down on the twisted, immoral stance that underpins the efficacy of the transatlantic slave trade. As if that will even save them from a Just God Who hears our prayers too.
You see, the Minor Prophets make perfect sense to us. There is NO true mystery with regards to Revelation for us. We disagree on the details, but we get the gist: God will right every wrong, wipe away every tear, and every knee shall indeed BOW. We hang our hats on this. We go to sleep each night and arise each morning with the expectation that Someone cares and is working it all to our good and will finally set the record straight. We NEED this kind of God.
Thankfully, He happens to be THAT kind of God. Which should make those 55 nations very afraid. Why fear? I can’t speak to the other nations that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade, but I can speak for my own. Christianity took an unusual turn among African Americans. In most places, British colonialism took the gospel, the gospel netted poor results among the colonized for a number of reasons, which often involved dehumanizing the colonized in ways that deemed them unworthy of the gospel and sometimes even illegal to share it.
In the US, however, African Americans practicing Christianity have been historically as high as 95%, where other colonized people groups have rarely seen past single digits. African Americans still maintain the highest rates of practicing Christianity, higher than any other people group in America. Our faith came in a surprising but very necessary way—via the person of the Holy Spirit. Our protest against our plight in this nation began with our worship. There are countless stories of African American believers defending our rights via both scripture and US law, determining that their right to even decide how they’ll worship would not be usurped by the dominant culture and is the reason why the US is the only place on the planet where within the same denomination there are splits by region (north vs. south) and race (white vs. black). We believe because we were called. How much longer will our long-suffering God delay in hearing our cries and answering our prayers? Eventually, justice must come or He isn’t a just God.
So, those 55 nations missed an important opportunity to get it right. Those 55 nations will probably get another opportunity because that is the God we serve. One day, however, these opportunities are going to end and it will be time for justice. Until then, we’ll keep praying and crying out, keep marching and demanding and voting for justice. We’ll keep forgiving and loving the unlovable because we trust in a Just God and have learned to take His lead as we pursue the righteousness He has made known to us.
Take this as the blessing it’s meant to be and REPENT.
Signed,
N. Dee
One of the first products of the British Empire and Transatlantic slave trade, a descendant of colonially enslaved Virginians (this all got started with me and the tobacco my ancestors were forced to pick).