Elected officers ripped the “despicable” march by white supremacists by the center of Boston Saturday, and one neighborhood chief is looking on the town to take motion and push again additional in opposition to racism.
“What we witnessed in Boston was an act we can only describe as despicable,” the Rev. Kevin Peterson, founding father of the New Democracy Coalition, informed the Herald on Sunday.
“Not only do we call on our elected leadership to decry and denounce this racism, we urge them to act with force in terms of addressing racism through policies and through community conversations around race,” he added.
About 100 masked members from the white nationalist group Patriot Front marched by the town early Saturday afternoon, turning stomachs and sparking an outcry from shocked onlookers who screamed expletives on the group, telling them to “Get the F” out of the Hub.
The white supremacists carried flags and shields earlier than stopping in entrance of Boston Public Library to spew propaganda.
Peterson mentioned Mayor Michelle Wu ought to reply to the incident by making a Commission on Race to handle racial reparations and systemic racism within the metropolis.
Public service bulletins denouncing white supremacists can be an excellent begin, he mentioned, together with neighborhood conversations about race.
“We must collectively say the children of the KKK are not welcomed here,” he mentioned, including, “We can look at this repugnant march as an opportunity to reshape our vision to make Boston racially hospitable for everyone.”
Peterson and others on Monday will maintain a press convention to denounce hate.
“Screw off Nazi scum,” U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton mentioned in a tweet. “I’m sure they missed the irony of white supremacists marching on the Freedom Trail.”
During the march on Saturday, Boston Police acquired a report of 1 Black man injured in a confrontation with Patriot Front members. The man mentioned he was knocked to the bottom and assaulted.
He suffered a laceration to his proper ring finger and others to his head and eyebrow. He was taken to Tufts Medical Center. Boston Police on Sunday mentioned it was nonetheless an energetic investigation into the incident.
Many leaders, together with the mayor, have been fast to sentence the group’s presence in Boston.
Tanisha Sullivan, president of the NAACP Boston department who’s operating for secretary of state, mentioned Patriot Front is a risk to Black people, individuals of shade, LGBTQ people and the Jewish neighborhood.
“They’re a threat to public safety,” Sullivan tweeted. “A Black man reported being attacked today in Boston. We need a safety plan to protect us from the white supremacists. We can’t normalize this.”
Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat operating for governor, mentioned the masks worn by members of the group reveal their cowardice.
“White supremacists will cover up their faces, but we see them for who they are: cowards,” she tweeted. “Their hate will not deter us.”
Geoff Diehl, the Republican occasion nominee and former President Donald Trump’s choose for the governor’s workplace, joined the condemnation.
“I strongly condemn the message of this group, and find it offensive and sad that they chose this weekend in which we celebrate independence to demonstrate their belief in supremacy over equality,” Diehl mentioned.
Diehl’s Republican opponent Chris Doughty additionally condemned the marchers.
“It is beyond disappointing that they think that our Commonwealth would be accepting,” he informed the Herald. “They are not welcome nor is their message of hate and division.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”