“White churches” in Boston need to cough up $15 billion and hand it over to the black community because “Christian love” demands it.

It’s “not enough” for churches to research their history and talk about reparations, Rev. John E. Gibbons of Arlington Street Church told reporters at a Saturday press conference in Roxbury.

“Somehow we need to move with some urgency toward action,” Gibbons said, “and so part of what we’re doing is to prod and encourage white churches to go beyond what they have done thus far.”

According to the Boston Globe, the news conference, which featured both white and black clergy members, was organized by the Boston People’s Reparations Commission, described by the outlet as “an independent group of activists who have called on the City of Boston to spend $15 billion on reparations.”

“We call sincerely and with a heart filled with faith and Christian love for our white churches to join us and not be silent around this issue of racism and slavery and commit to reparations,” said the Rev. Kevin Peterson.

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https://bit.ly/3x8NAPM 

On Feb. 28, 1638, the slave trade probably began in New England when a ship arrived in Massachusetts Bay from the West Indies. The Salem ship Desire carried enslaved Africans along with the other cargo of cotton and tobacco.

After a slow start, the slave trade would take root in New England. First it flourished in Massachusetts, then gained a toehold in coastal New Hampshire. Finally it dominated Rhode Island, which became the biggest slave market in the colonies.

Over time, the African-American population would reach 10 percent in some parts of New England. As the slave population rose, so did the number of free blacks. Africans could buy their freedom, or they could win it by fighting in the Revolution or by getting too old to work. Black men could escape their bonds and go to sea.

But many African-Americans would learn the sad truth that freedom was just another word for harassment and discrimination.

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https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/slave-trade-took-root-new-england/