Freedom For All Walk
Over 200 walk to commemorate the
abolition of the slave trade.
Sunday 25 March 2007, By Rev. Lindsey Sanderson
Amidst
bright spring sunshine, over 200 people walked from Musselburgh to Inveresk Lodge Gardens
to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. The
event organised by Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) in
conjunction with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) symbolically re-enacted
the journey of Robert Wedderburn, the son of James Wedderburn, the owner of
Inveresk House and a slave maid on one of his Jamaican plantations. Professor
Geoff Palmer, a member of the ACTS 2007 working group, explained to the walkers
that Robert came to Musselburgh in 1795 to visit his father. He did not get a
good welcome - being sent away with a
‘cracked sixpence’ and became a radical and well known anti-slavery activist in
England. Before setting off the walkers joined in
prayer remembering the suffering of men, women and children caught up in the
trade, the dedication of the abolitionists both black and white, and they
offered a shared commitment to name and act to eradicate all forms of
contemporary slavery.
The walk
moved off to the beat of a single African drum, with Rev Jim Jones, Convener of
the Scottish Churches Forum and Ms Rhona Brankin, Minister for Communities, accompanied by Major Alan
Dixon, Pamala McDougall and Rev Douglas
Nicol, other members of the Scottish Churches Forum, leading
the way. Before long some of the children who were walking had made their way
to the front of the procession and led the walk as they danced and skipped to
the drum’s beat.
At Inveresk Lodge Gardens
the procession was met by the present Lord Wedderburn who said that he would
use the fact of this walk to increase the call for Robert Wedderburn to be included
in the Wedderburn family register. Rhona
Brankin addressed the walkers saying that slavery and its legacy still affects
the modern world, ‘that is not just through criminal acts like people
trafficking , but also through the iron grip that holds millions in poverty
across the world’. Ms Brankin added that
from a 21st century perspective the decision to abolish slavery
looked like a simple choice between right or wrong ,’ but that would overlook
the courage and conviction of many people who faced down the vested interests
of those who sustained the evil trade in human lives. Many of those were Scots,
and 200 years from the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, we
should remember the vital contribution they made’.
Rev Jim
Jones, said that he hoped the walk had filled each person present with renewed
energy to see the world in which we live in its true light and he drew people’s
attention to the ‘Scotland and Slavery’ leaflet produced by ACTS which provides
information about the modern evil of human trafficking and ways in which people
can engage in campaigns to eradicate this new trade. He
concluded by saying ‘my prayer is that the churches will continue their longing
for justice and longing for the freedom of the human spirit, recognising that
each person is made in the image of God, is precious to God and should be to
all humankind’.
For
pictures from the walk and further
information about ACTS other activities to mark the Abolition of the Slave
Trade Act, including the National Ecumenical Service of Commemoration on June
16th at the David Livingston Centre, Blantyre, visit www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk or contact
ACTS on 01259 216980.
|
