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| Charting the New Jersey racial wealth gap in the NJISJ Study. |
In most discussions of the financial harm done and the scale of reparations required, it does not appear that the true scope of this harm is fully understood, even among members of the HBCs. This means that harm is regularly underreported and under appreciated, both in and beyond the affected HBCs, and that deliberations regarding funding reparative justice initiatives are likely to produce inappropriately low targets for funding (such as the current deliberations of the recently formed board for the diocesan reparative justice trust). Allow me to explain the details.
There is a well-documented history of highly generous, self-sacrificial giving in Black church communities. The rate of giving relative to income is, generally speaking, far higher than in the White churches of our diocese. Unfortunately, this is a virtue born of harm. Because of the racial wealth gap, Black Episcopalians have had to devote a dramatically higher percentage of their wealth and income to church giving in order to have functioning Black churches than White people have had to devote to church giving in order to have functioning White churches.
The fact is that the HBCs in our diocese exist because of White racism. They were founded because of well-known, and well-documented White racism. They have continued to provide a space for the (comparatively) free exercise of faith and leadership for Black Episcopalians in our diocese that is necessary due to the persistence of White racism.
It is also a fact that churches cost a certain amount to run. For the sake of simplicity, let's say the bare bones number in 2026 dollars to run a congregation per year is $100,000. Anyone who is familiar with church budgets will know that this is stretching what is possible with a full-time rector, but we will assume $100k for the sake of argument. Now let's say, again for the sake of simplicity, that we are just looking at a 100-year period, mostly in the 20th century, during which HBCs have operated. And, again, for the sake of simplicity, let us assume that there have been, on average, about ten HBCs operating at any given time in the diocese during that period. Some HBCs have operated longer than that. There have been periods with more HBCs than ten, but for the sake of simplicity of calculation we will keep the numbers low and round. We are looking at 10 HBCs over 100 years at $100,000 dollars a year for a minimum cost to operate of $100 million in 2026 dollars. Let us acknowledge, again, that this is a low estimate.
Now consider that the racial wealth gap in New Jersey is currently 20:1. It used to be significantly worse, but for the sake of simplicity let's say that during that whole period it has been 20:1. HBCs have had to exist because of White Episcopal racism, and have only managed to exist because of the sacrificial giving of Black Episcopalians. The result of this fact is that in order to function, Black Episcopalians have had to be generous with respect to their household wealth at approximately a 20:1 rate compared to White Episcopalians in order to have functioning churches. Black Episcopalians have had to give at an enormously higher rate than White Episcopalians have, just to make sure to have church communities of their own that are less subject to White racism than they would be subjected to at "integrated" churches (and in further evidence of this racism, the diocese has regularly attempted to liquidate Black churches and force integration, even while knowing this will subject Black Episcopalians to greater racism).
Fairness would suggest that because White racism has necessitated the existence of HBCs, and because the cost to run a church is what it is irrespective of race, and because Black Episcopalians have had to pay that cost to ensure the functioning of their HBCs, that Black Episcopalian household wealth has taken close to a $100 million hit over the past 100 years due exclusively to white Episcopal racism. Almost the entire amount required to run functioning HBCs over the past century has come from Black giving at a dramatically higher percentage of income and wealth than the rate required among White parishioners of White Churches (in a reversal of the same ratio as the wealth gap). If White racism did not require the existence of HBCs, Black Episcopalians could be free to give at the same wealth-rate as White people to maintain jointly attended churches. But White Episcopal racism operating in tandem with the New Jersey racial wealth gap (a separate product of White racism) has essentially robbed individual Black Episcopalians of an estimated $95 million out of an approximate $100 million cost to operate over the past century (and don't forget, this is already a very conservative estimate). And this does not address reparative justice for slavery or other kinds of racism, either to Black Episcopalians or to Black New Jerseyans generally. We are just talking about the direct financial effect of White racism on Black Episcopal household wealth due to the necessity of having HBCs in the Diocese of New Jersey.
The scale and scope of this harm is not generally appreciated. Yes, in recent history, the diocese has dedicated some money to HBCs, but it has been entirely of the wrong order of magnitude and has not meaningfully addressed the underlying harmful patterns. Meaningfully addressing the pattern of harm would mean stopping the yearly drain on Black wealth that comes from the persistence of White racism. For many reasons (but among them the fact that White racism is still clearly operative) HBCs are a necessary feature of our diocesan life. This is not debatable. But stopping the constant drain on Black wealth that occurs as a result of primarily parish-level funding requires de-siloing funding. According to the simplified calculations used here, it would require approximately $1 million a year to stabilize HBC finances in the diocese. In terms of future orientation, this figure should be viewed as the bare-minimum, no-strings, yearly disbursement to HBCs from the diocese as part of any reparative justice measure which aims to address adequately the underlying systemic inequity.
This kind of coverage of 95% of baseline operating costs of HBCs by the White churches in the diocese should occur until there is meaningful change to the racial wealth gap in New Jersey. But it should NOT be viewed as a step which would preclude a larger separate disbursement addressing these and other past harms. This proposed measure is just to stop the bleeding. Other measures should address the accumulated negative effects of other past harms.
Yes, this is a lot of money. But consider that it is an amount of money that Black Episcopalians have been unfairly required to pay for over 100 years just to avoid White racism. It is past time that the White Episcopalians of the Diocese of New Jersey recognize that their wealth is the product of slavery and racism, that it has been accumulated at the expense of Black New Jerseyans, that White Episcopal racism specifically has had a dramatic negative effect on Black Episcopal wealth in the Diocese of New Jersey, and that, as a result, a very great debt is owed.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey
