Some people in Boston are trying to get $15 billion in damages because they say that slavery is what made the city rich.
One of the activists, Rev. Kevin C. Peterson, spoke out at a press conference in Boston’s Roxbury area and said that the City of Boston should expect to pay reparations. “To make right the wrong done to Boston’s Blacks,” he said the $15 billion would be used for. People who worked as slaves made this city rich.
Peterson, who started the political group Boston People Reparations Commission, asked for money to be given to black Boston residents at a news conference. He said that the city’s wealth was built on slavery.
“We demand from Mayor Wu full monetary compensation for wages and lost lives through slavery and anti-Black institutional oppression,” he stated. “Today we call on a full and robust reparations process.”
Getting to the $15 billion number that Peterson wants, he did separate the payments into three groups. The first $5 billion would be used to give cash to black people who live in Boston. The second $5 billion would be used to build new banks. And the third $5 billion would be used to fix racial differences in schooling and crime prevention.
Peterson said, “We call on the Task Force to fully commit to writing checks that will compensate Black Bostonians and put money into the building of new institutions in our community.”
It was said by the mayor that the city set up groups that would be part of the “city’s reparations task force.” The Boston Reparations Task Force will try to make a list of suggestions for how the Mayor can deal with some of the problems that the political group sees.
“The City of Boston’s Task Force on Reparations is working with a research partner to study the legacy of slavery in Boston, and will ultimately provide recommendations to Mayor Wu for reparative justice solutions for Black residents,” an official said.
