You participated in our 40 days of action this spring for the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
Some of you were arrested, others attended trainings, put your bodies on the line, or supported these actions, all to make a statement that poverty, systemic racism, the war economy, ecological devastation, and a false moral narrative must be confronted through a movement led by poor people and people of color, true to MLK's 1968 Vision of the Poor People's Campaign as a "new and unsettling force."
On Saturday we have a chance to make another statement consistent with our values. A broad coalition of groups, both in Roxbury and the wider community, have come together to challenge the narrative of racism in Boston, and specifically to request the city hold a hearing on whether it is time to change the name of Faneuil Hall.
Peter Faneuil sold an enslaved boy to get money to build Faneuil Hall, which he then donated to the city. He and other merchants of the time in New England held, enslaved, and sold African Americans. Their slavery was part of what built the economy of New England.
Many of us are justly proud of our abolitionist history in Massachusetts, and cheer when monuments to those who supported slavery in the South are torn down. But we must look at our own history as well. In Boston today, the median wealth of a black, non-immigrant family is $8.00, while the median wealth of a white family is $247,000. This is a direct result of systemic racism, and our failure to address the legacy of slavery.
The movement calling for a hearing to explore changing the name of Faneuil Hall is a genuine community response that we in the poor peoples campaign fully support. It is a cry to confront systemic racism in Boston in all its forms: lack of housing, poverty, poor schools, lack of health care, drastic inequality, and neglect of poor neighborhoods.
As Kevin Peterson, founder of the New Democracy Coalition says, "we can make a difference. We can refreshen our efforts at confronting systemic racism by looking to symbols of racism and acknowledging what they really stand for. This creates the dialogue needed and stirs up the work we need to do in order to create what Rev. King called the Beloved Community."
Please come to the event at 11:00 am Saturday, at Faneuil Hall.
The Massachusetts Poor Peoples Campaign is helping with Music, Banners, Singing, Speakers and many people from Mass PPC are organizing and volunteering for this event.
Toby Sackton for Mass. Poor Peoples Campaign
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