November 30, 2005: First Black Archbishop in the Church of England

A Brief History

On November 30, 2005, John Sentamu was given the title 97^th Archbishop of York, making him the first Black (of sub-Saharan African origin) Archbishop in the Church of England.

Digging Deeper

With this event taking place so recently, it can be clearly seen that normalization of integrating people of diverse backgrounds into British society is no less trying than seamlessly integrating people of all backgrounds in the United States, a country often referred to as “The Melding Pot” (or sometimes “Melting Pot). Modern European countries, especially ones with far flung former colonies such as Britain are by no means homogeneous ethnic masses, and even more so since World War II when open immigration became quite common in Europe.

European cities have long had enclaves of various ethnic groups, such as the “Arab Quarter” found in many French cities, but the general integration of people of diverse racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds has greatly accelerated in recent years. In fact, one of the sons of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne is in a serious relationship with an American woman of mixed race background.

The Church of England being the official state religion of the UK, and the sovereign being the “Defender of the Faith” is a highly visible and culturally important territory for the dropping of racial barriers. Born in Kampala, Uganda in 1949 when Uganda was still part of the British Empire, Sentamu first studied law and practiced in the Supreme Court of Uganda, fleeing the repressive regime of Idi Amin for the saner shores of England in 1974. Sentamu decided to study religion and pursue a career in the Church, getting his priesthood (ordained) in 1979 and receiving a Doctorate from Cambridge in 1984.

Despite the groundbreaking nature of Sentamu’s Church career, the Archbishop is quite conservative and is a critic of multiculturalism! He even believes the BBC is a bit cowardly for shying away from criticism of Islam. One bit of racial injustice personal to His Eminence is the “stop and frisk” policy of English police. Sentamu complained that he had been stopped and frisked 8 times in 8 years, a time frame in which no other English Bishop had been so treated by the cops.

Sort of a highly visible character, Sentamu regularly writes newspaper columns and has sky dived for charity. Despite some conservative leanings, Sentamu is accepting of homosexuals as “valued by God” and refused to criticize Prince William and Kate Middleton for living together before marriage, saying their ultimate commitment is more important than the past.

Unfortunately, in 2016 the Archbishop has been tainted by accusations of being 1 of 6 Bishops that engaged in procedural misconduct regarding child sex abuse cases (failing to handle them properly, presumably to cover them up) It is not clear at this time if any disciplinary action will be taken against the accused Bishops that have argued the 1 year limit on the timeliness of complaints against the clergy had been exceeded. (Exactly the lame sort of garbage clergy has been hiding behind for some time now!)

Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think about integration of races and cultures in Europe? Please feel free to share your thoughts on immigration and integration in the comments section below this article.

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