By Tom Joyce | August 26, 2024, 16:01 EDT
Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2024/08/26/boston-state-rep-candidate-supports-reparations-for-slavery/
Should the descendants of African-American slaves receive reparations?
A state representative candidate in Boston thinks so.
Sam Pierce, a Democrat from Dorchester, is running for state representative in the Sixth Suffolk District, primarying incumbent State Representative Russell Holmes (D-Mattapan)
Pierce is a commissioner on the Boston People’s Reparations Commission, according to the organization’s web site. It’s a private organization with more than 40 commissioners that advocates for reparations for the descendants of African-American slaves in Boston.
Here is a description of the organization from its web site:
We are committed to a reparations strategy in Boston that emphasizes civic power, pedagogy (civic literacy) and the purposeful development of existing and future leadership. A robust reparations outcome in Boston is our ultimate goal. Our actions over the next three years and beyond will include: continuous community meetings, organizing based on praxis (practice), collective action and civic reorganization that support the capabilities of volunteers and community residents, especially within Boston’s Black communities. Social and traditional media utilizations also become means toward our effectiveness.
Seventy community volunteer commissioners lead this project.
THE ROLE OF EACH COMMISSIONER IS TO BRING MORE PEOPLE INTO THE PROCESS. EACH COMMISSIONER IS BEING ASKED TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN DEFINING OUR MOVEMENT AND SUPPORTING THE MOVEMENT.
Although the description says the organization has 70 commissioners, the site only lists 40, including Pierce.
Earlier this year, the Boston People’s Reparation Commission called for the city of Boston to give $15 billion in reparations to its black residents.
“The $15 billion would be split three ways, according to the commission’s proposal: $5 billion in direct cash payments to Black Boston residents, a $5 billion investment in new financial institutions, and $5 billion to address the racial education gap and for anti-crime measures,” NBC 10 Boston explained.
Boston has 138,870 black residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, meaning that $5 billion in direct reparations payments would give each black resident more than $36,000 apiece.
For reference, Boston’s fiscal year 2025 budget is $4.6 billion — less than one-third of that proposed $15 billion figure.
Pierce expressed his support for reparations in a Facebook post on May 14, 2019, Facebook, with a reference to historically black colleges and universities.
“Before we consider a $640 Billion Dollar unpaid cancelation of Student Loan Debt,” Pierce wrote, “First, I would like to see an endowment set up for the HBCUs as the first step in US Reparations. Otherwise, NO Deal.”
Pierce is running for state representative in the Sixth Suffolk District against incumbent state representative Russell Holmes (D-Mattapan), and Haris Hardaway of Dorchester.
The Sixth Suffolk District, which Pierce is running to represent includes several areas of Boston, including Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roslindale. It includes Ward 14 (Precincts 2, 5, 6 through 14) Ward 17 (Precincts 1 through 3, and 5 through 7) Ward 18 (Precincts 7 and 8) and Ward 19 Precinct 12.
Pierce could not be reached for comment on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Nor could Holmes orHardaway.
New to NewBostonPost? Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts. But you’ve found it. Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months. And join the real revolution.