According to a recent Daily Mail article, Boston’s religious establishment has urged “white churches” to provide millions of dollars in reparations to the city’s black population. The ridiculous plan calls for white churches to pay $15 billion in compensation for their prior involvement in the slave trade.
The Boston Peoples Reparations Commission, the organization in charge of seeking $15 billion, organized the ceremony, which was held at Resurrection Lutheran Church.
Reverend Kevin Peterson was one of the speakers at the event. Faneuil Hall Marketplace is named for rich businessman Peter Faneuil, a well-known slave trafficker in the eighteenth century, but Peterson allegedly wants to rename it.
“We humbly and from a heart full of faith and Christian love call on our white churches to stand with us on this subject of racism and slavery, and to make a commitment to restitution,” said Peterson.
“We ask them to publicly commit to a reparations process, and we lead them in the direction of doing so out of Christian love for the crimes of slavery.”
“In the black community, they will stretch their vast wealth—tens of millions of dollars among some of those churches.”
Peterson was only one of sixteen pastors who signed the letter indicating to churches that they wished to take part in the restitution process. According to the newspaper, the letter included specifics on how the churches would pay for the expenses, including how they would use cash, affordable housing, or “financial and economic institutions in Black Boston.”
According to WCVB, Edwin Sumpter, a member of the Boston Peoples Reparations Commission, stated: “It is undeniably impossible to calculate. The experiences that African Americans have had in this nation cannot be measured in monetary terms.”
Heather Cook, a member of the Boston Peoples Reparations Commission, stated, “What we are doing is mobilizing, having conversations, and educating the community about Boston’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and the disparities within the communities, and we are working towards gathering stories to figure out solutions.”
Reports state that the organization has been pushing for monetary compensation since 2018.
The Catholic church was specifically mentioned by Peterson, who said, “They sadly contributed to preserving systemic racism across the city.” The Catholic Church was outlawed in Massachusetts until the state constitution was created in 1780.
“In addition to the era of slavery, we are looking at three centuries of institutionalized anti-Black racism, and the Catholic Church is among the faiths we want to interact with.”
