According to the report, the Boston Reparations Task Force called on the “white church” to step up reparations to black communities for racial inequalities rooted in the transatlantic slave trade.
The Boston Globe reported that black and white clergy members attended a news conference in Roxbury that was scheduled to be held outdoors but was held in the basement of Resurrection Lutheran Church on Saturday due to rain.
The commission was established by the 2022 Boston City Council Ordinance and is comprised of 10 members, including two from the youth community.
In February, Boston activists demanded that the city “fully commit to writing the checks” and pay $15 billion because the city’s wealth was built on slavery.
Pastor Kevin Peterson said, “With hearts full of faith and Christian love, we ask that our white churches join us and not be silent on this issue of racism and slavery. I sincerely call on them to work towards compensation.”
Mr. Peterson is a pastor who is trying to change the name of Faneuil Hall because of its association with the 18th century slave trade.
“We point them to the public atonement for the sin of slavery in Christian love, and we point out to them the public commitment to a reparations process that extends their vast wealth (tens of millions of dollars in some churches) into the black. We ask you to make a commitment to the community.” Peterson said.
Sixteen religious leaders signed the letter and sent it to several Boston-area churches asking for support for reparations.
Specifically, in a letter obtained by the Globe, the group offered the church cash payments as well as support for the construction of affordable housing and new financial institutions in “black Boston.” We are asking you to support us.
The letters were reportedly sent to Arlington Street Church, Trinity Church, Old South Church in Back Bay, and King’s Chapel in downtown Boston. Peterson told the magazine that all four churches were founded in the 17th and 18th centuries.
At a press conference Saturday, Arlington Street Church Pastor John E. Gibbons told reporters that several churches are examining their history and discussing reparations.
“That’s not enough,” Gibbons said. “Somehow we need to move with some urgency towards action, so part of what we’re doing is going beyond what the white church has ever done. It’s about inspiring and encouraging action.”
The Rev. Joy Fallon, senior pastor at King’s Chapel, said his congregation is establishing a memorial to enslaved people, while also working to establish a fund to support social justice and reconciliation.
The Globe reported last year that the church paid for an investigation that identified 219 pastors and congregation owners.
Fallon and other representatives from Trinity Church and Old South Church did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiries about compensation.
In February, the commission held a press conference in which Mr. Peterson demanded full monetary compensation for the lives and wages lost to slavery and anti-Black systemic oppression.
During the meeting, Mr. Peterson reportedly advocated for the $15 billion to be paid in three different payment methods.
One payment option is a $5 billion cash payment to Boston’s black residents, another $5 billion to invest in new financial institutions, and the remaining $5 billion to address racial disparities in education and crime. The money will be used for countermeasures.
This amount is more than three times Boston’s annual budget of $4.28 billion set for fiscal year 2024.
Prior to last month’s press conference, Mr. Peterson issued a statement insisting that “the debt must be paid in dollars.”
On Saturday, Daniel Williams, director of a social justice group called Prophetic Resistance Boston, reportedly said that his great-great-grandmother was captured as a slave in Africa and transported to North Carolina.
Mr. Williams also spoke about the sacred tradition of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
“Black people, the descendants of slavery, have washed the feet of their oppressors for over 400 years,” Williams was quoted as saying. “Come, wash our feet. Descendants of slavery, we want reparations. We want it now.”
