I wish I could remember all their names, my 20,000 ghosts. Beautiful African names! We used to call them with grunts—we were the apes! They were the humans.
Tears flow down John Newton’s face as he remembers the slaves that he was responsible for transporting from their home in Africa to the Americas. In an England of wealth and sophistication, elegance and good manners, the horror of slavery was not something people wanted to acknowledge.
A young Member of Parliament shouting passionately about the horrors of the experience of slaves is easy to write off—the first time, and the second time, and the third time. Amazing Grace excellently chronicles the constant failures of William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect to make slavery illegal. The movie makes Wilberforce a very real character as we sit with him in his despair when he gives up. There is wonder in the final outcome of his attempts—the hand of God?
The powerful role of his wife Barbara in inspiring him to press on despite seemingly impossible obstacles and her determination and faith in her husband are brilliantly portrayed.
Our perspective more than 200 hence clarifies the issues surrounding slavery. “How can they have not seen?”, we wonder. Yet there are similar issues we do not see in our own society. What would William Wilberforce be campaigning about were he alive today?
03-02-2007 |
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