Religious leaders in Boston have demanded 'white churches' give millions of dollars in reparations to the city's black community.
The activist clergy also called on them to back a push for the City of Boston to pay $15 billion in reparations for its historical role in the slave trade.
The event at Resurrection Lutheran Church was organized by the Boston People's Reparations Commission, which made the $15 billion demand.
One of the speakers was Reverend Kevin Peterson, who wants to rename Faneuil Hall marketplace due to Peter Faneuil, the wealthy merchant who built it, being a prominent slave trafficker in the 1700s.
'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,' he said.
'We point to them in Christian love to publicly atone for the sins of slavery and we ask them to publicly commit to a process of reparations.
'Where they will extend their great wealth - tens of millions of dollars among some of those churches - into the black community.'
Peterson said a letter signed by 16 clergymen, both black and white, was sent to churches the group wanted to participate in giving reparations.
The letter detailed ways the reparations could be paid, including in cash or by creating affordable housing or 'financial and economic institutions in Black Boston'.
The churches named in the latter were King's Chapel, Arlington Street Church, Trinity Church, and Old South Church.
These churches were built in the 1600s and 1700s, and hundreds of slaves were owned by clergy and parishioners.
Reverend John Gibbons, from Arlington Street Church, also spoke at the event, saying churches were researching their history and discussing reparations, but that wasn't enough.
'Somehow we need to move with some urgency toward action and so part of what we're doing is to prod and encourage white churches to go beyond what they have done thus far,' he said.
King's Chapel published research that found 219 slaves were owned by ministers and church members in hundreds of years of its history.
Old South Church also published a report on its historical ties to slavery and its minister Reverend John Edgerton is on board with the group's effort.
'Old South is committed to learning the truth about our history and making repair — the God who loves justice demands nothing less,' he told the Boston Globe.
Baptist leader Archbishop Leo Edward said the US failed to provide the promised '40 acres and a mule' to enslaved people and needed to do so now.
'You know what is the acres? The prisons! And the mules [are] the prisoners,' he said at the event.
Peterson also singled out the Catholic church, despite it being banned in Massachusetts until the state constitution was passed in 1780.
'They unfortunately assisted in sustaining institutionalized racism across the city,' he said.
'Not only are we looking at the period of slavery, we're looking at three centuries of institutionalized anti-black racism and the Catholic Church is inclusive of the churches we want to engage.'
The Archdiocese of Boston said the 'suffering of the black community is constantly with us in the Commonwealth and nationally' and it would 'certainly review what they have proposed in the days ahead'.
Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Seán O'Malley wrote in a blog in 2020 that the US Government didn't do enough t support black people after the Civil War.
'Any American who is asked if they are opposed to slavery would strenuously affirm their absolute opposition to this terrible institution,' he wrote.
'Today, however, we must unite in our opposition to the consequences that this immoral practice has visited on our nation.'
The City of Boston created the Task Force on Reparations in 2022 to write a report on how the city could dole out reparations to its black residents.
The city is run by Mayor Michelle Wu, who controversially hosted a 'no white's allowed' holiday party for 'Elected of Color' in December.