John Gibbons, minister emeritus of First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Bedford, is featured in Public Theologian Dr. Kevin C. Peterson’s upcoming restitution documentary, “Reparations Untold: An American Story,” showing on June 29 at the Strand Theater in Dorchester.
“The documentary centers on one of these hearings on the People’s Reparations Commission. It also weaves into some of the history of slavery and calls for reparations in Boston,” Gibbons said. “The film is based around one of the meetings held in the last year at the Bruce Bolling Building in Roxbury,”
GOOD TROUBLE
Gibbons, an innocent-looking redhead with tortoiseshell glasses, is a master at participating in social causes – or good trouble.
The expression “good trouble, necessary trouble” was coined by the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis, who frequently encouraged people to take action: “Go out there, speak up, speak out. Get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
In 2021, former Minister Kim Crawford Harvie of the Arlington Street Unitarian Universalist Church in Boston made it official, naming the recently retired Gibbons the Community Minister of Good Trouble.
“It’s a tall order to live up to that title,” Gibbons said of the moniker associated with Lewis. “It’s a challenge and gives me plenty to do.”
Gibbons hit the ground running after getting his new title, likely in one of his pairs of brightly colored sneakers. “[I was] asked to speak at various social events,” Gibbons said. “I developed a relationship with the Black-led New Democracy Coalition (NDC) founded by Reverend Peterson,” Gibbons said of the origin of their three-year friendship.
Peterson is a Baptist reverend who comes from a Pentecostal background, and Gibbons is a Unitarian Universalist. But both have the same penchant for righting wrongs.
“Minister [Gibbons] is among the wisest in our culture,” Peterson said. “John is committed to social and racial justice continuously. He exhibits an incredible empathy and willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others as he learns and grows. That is a model we should all adopt. He should be admired and considered a real jewel in our civil and sacred lives.”
FANEUIL “SLAVE TRADER” HALL
Gibbons, Peterson, and a woman recently chained themselves to the entrance of Faneuil Hall.
“We thought we’d be arrested because we had big heavy chains,” Gibbons said. “We were there for about eight hours. The police looked at us [and thought], you know, we think we’ve got you where we want you. We didn’t get arrested that time.”
Gibbons recalls actively attending his first protest when he was 10 or 11 years old. He’s been arrested at protests five times since.
“The [arrests] were related to climate justice, protesting fossil fuel infrastructure, protest at Slave Trader (otherwise known as Faneuil) Hall,” Gibbons said. “They were planned events to draw attention to injustices.”
Peter Faneuil, who built the edifice, was part of the Transatlantic Trade and sold and enslaved people of color. Gibbons and Peterson refer to the structure as Slave Traders Hall.
“Most people have trouble spelling Faneuil,” Gibbons said. “They don’t know about Peter.”
“Among [NDC’s] issues is to change the name of Faneuil Hall. This does not mean erasing the history of Peter Faneuil,” Gibbons said. “The only claim to fame he ever had was he made a lot of money in the slave trade. He was an enslaver himself. The most prominent building in Boston – named after a slave trader.”
“People say we want to erase history. We think that’s not true. The name of Faneuil chains us, shackles us to the past.”
“People change their own names for a variety of reasons. We decided to name [Bedford’s Sabourin Field] broadcasting booth after Mike Rosenberg because we love Mike Rosenberg. Dudley Square was renamed Nubian Square. Yawkey Way was changed to its original name, Jersey Street. Changing names is a common thing. They get changed according to who we are and our identity,” Gibbons said.
Boston City Council passed a resolution and voted 10-3 to change the name of the hall. “It continues to be in the mud of Boston politics.”
Changing the name of what Gibbons calls Slave Trader’s Hall is vital to Gibbons. “Reparations have to do with repair. How do you undo the damage that slavery caused to millions of people,” Gibbons said. “It’s hard to calculate that.”
Peterson echoed the same thoughts.
“We continue to collaborate around changing the name of Faneuil Hall as a point of addressing the issue of reparations,” Peterson said. “We believe changing the name of Faneuil Hall represents a pivotal point in terms of addressing racial relations in Boston and across the nation.”
Gibbons’ work with Peterson was highlighted in an article about Faneuil Hall in the January/February 2025 issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
REPARATIONS
Both Peterson and Gibbons are working for restitution.
“I’m learning a lot,” Gibbons said. “I speak a little, but I listen more. I’m learning more about systemic racism and its legacy.”
“Many people have received reparations,” Gibbons said. “The Japanese received reparations; Jews who lost property were given reparations. It’s eye opening to me. I’m learning a lot.”
“Kevin and I are invited to go to the Vatican of all places on an International Conference on Reparations.”
Peterson and Gibbons traveled to visit Emmitt Till’s family on the anniversary of Till’s murder last March.
SLAVE TRADE AND ECONOMY
“White churches were the tip of the spear of colonization,” Gibbons said, noting that ministers here were enslavers. “The first enslaved people arrived in Boston in 1638. We extracted wealth through slavery.”
Gibbons refers to the Lords of the Lash and the Lords of the Loom. Waltham, Lowell, and Lawrence textile factories were the Lords of the Loom, dependent on cotton from the South, the Lords of the Lash.
Silversmiths and artisans who worked for silversmiths were often enslaved people, Gibbons said. First Parish in Bedford had a beautiful silver set. “We have now documented that some of the silversmith artisans were enslaved persons. We can now name them.”
“The economy is just entirely enmeshed in the economy of slavery,” Gibbons said of America’s past.
Gibbons is still educating himself.
“Other people have known it, but I’m learning much of it for the first time,” Gibbons said. “It’s a privilege for me to get to know things I would not otherwise have known about.”
Gibbons said he’ll continue working toward reparations. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“It’s so important that we, as a nation, person by person, engage in dialog and thoughtful reflection on how we make the nation better through reflection and daily consideration in how we engage our neighbor more faithfully and more carefully,” Peterson said. “We must lift the blinders or take off the blindfolds around our racial history. We will never become a multi-racial democracy if we do not soberly address the issue of historic racial terrorism in this country.”
“John Gibbons amazingly perceives that it his [work] among white people to address the issue of race and solidarity with black people,” Peterson said.
“The simple truth is until there is justice, there will be no peace,” Gibbons said.
