WCVB-TV
BOSTON —
About 200 people gathered for a Mass on Castle Island Saturday morning as part of a call for change to race relations in America.
The Gate of Heaven Church hosted a “Mass for Racial Justice and Healing” near the Clipper Ship Monument to Donald McKay.
The Mass was held one day after Boston Mayor Marty Walsh declared racism to be a public health crisis in the city.
The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, celebrated the interfaith service. On June 5, he wrote a message in response to the death of George Floyd and recorded it on video.
“It is encouraging to see that people have been galvanized into action, and that people want to say: ‘No more!'” O’Malley said Saturday. “This has to change.”
O’Malley concluded the Mass with the following message: “If America is to champion democracy in the world, we need to clean up our own act.”
“I certainly believe that his remarks today will be considered historic,” said Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP. “Quite frankly, during this time, they were a call to action.”
Leaders of the black faith community attended the Mass, including Pastor William Dickerson of Greater Love Tabernacle, who addressed the crowd before the service began.
“Let’s drive out fear, let’s drive out bigotry,” Dickerson told the crowd. “I will still have optimism and faith to believe that our city will rise again.”
“It was particularly poignant to have this service and this gathering in South Boston, which has been the place of so much racial tension over the decades,” said Rev. Ray Hammond of Bethel AME Church. “The healing has to begin here, but it has to go throughout the entire city.”
“The pain that people have experienced for generations is very real (and) deep, and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, also of Bethel AME Church.
Also in attendance were former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn and two Massachusetts congressmen — Rep. Joe Kennedy III and Rep. Stephen Lynch, who grew up in the city’s South Boston neighborhood.
“Really, the change that has to happen is in our hearts,” Lynch said. “You know, a lot of people have tried to pack up all the ills of society and stuff them into a blue uniform, and that’s wrong. It’s on all of us. We’ve got to do better. I’ve got to do better.”
On Friday, Walsh announced he is planning to reallocate $12 million from the Boston Police Department’s 2021 overtime budget and put it toward funds across the city, including those that support housing security programs, minority and women-owned business programs and emergency mental health responses.
Boston Police Commissioner William Gross is also on board with Walsh’s call for reform. On Thursday, the Boston Police Department announced changes modeled on the “8 Can’t Wait” Initiative, which pushes for eight specific reforms in police departments nationwide.
“The people that we serve should have the expectation that this department will improve each and every year, and I think we are taking those steps,” Gross said Friday.
Sullivan said the changes are a step in the right direction, but suggested the reallocated funds should be closer to $60 million rather than $12 million.
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association did not respond to a request for comment from NewsCenter 5.
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