Activists To Call For 'Strong Police Reform,' Racial Justice Outside Statehouse Friday

BOSTON — A Beacon Hill rally is planned for Friday afternoon to call out “centuries of systematic racism against Black people in Massachusetts.” The event comes less than a week after the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin that has sparked protests around the country.

The rally outside the Statehouse falls on the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington. Speakers will call for the Legislature to pass “strong police reform.” The House and Senate have each passed police accountability bills but have yet to send a final version to Gov. Charlie Baker.

“Enough to the unjust killing and criminalization of our young men and women, enough to the defunding and gentrification of our communities,” said a statement from James Mackey, a community organizer with Brothers Building, which is a local group of Black men. “Just as important, this event is a call to remind the Black community that we are ‘enough,’ and when we come together, we have more than enough to begin the work of creating the world in which we wish to live.”

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