Man hurt by mob calls for peace
Charles Morrell returned Monday near to the site where he was violently caught in Saturday’s white supremacist march and stood alongside several of the city’s Black leaders to call for a renewed commitment to protecting “our multiracial democracy.”
“Our goal is, obviously, as we as we stand here on Fourth of July, to create and maintain a multiracial democracy,” said the Rev. Kevin Peterson, founder of the New Democracy Coalition. “That’s the point of the Fourth of July.”
Morrell, a 34-year old Black artist with the Beheard. world collective, was injured in a confrontation Saturday as about 100 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front marched through the heart of Boston.
Morrell said he was knocked to the ground and assaulted after taking out his phone on Dartmouth Street, according to BPD chief spokesman Sgt. Detective John Boyle, suffering lacerations to his right ring finger, head and eyebrow.
Morrell said he would issue a statement with more details about the incident after consulting with an attorney. On Monday, he said he was calling on people to participate in community action against racism.
“I’ve been here for 10 years, but this work has been started well before I’ve gotten here,” Morrell said. He pointed to the upcoming work of the be world. collective, which aims to address racial justice through the arts. The group has a slate of events scheduled through the summer.
“There are ambassadors, artists and people who care about the city and the image of the city who have been doing the work,” he said. “And we are inviting you to come share a space with us — Black, white, gay, Latino, Asian, straight.”
Other speakers at the press event asked how the hate group was able to march through the city without police oversight.
“It’s mind-boggling to me that a group of 100 children of the KKK were allowed to march across the span of the city, from Haymarket to into this area of Back Bay, without appropriate police presence or surveillance,” Peterson said, noting the police’s role in protecting Black citizens Saturday was unclear. “While the city investigates the perpetrators of the crime, perhaps there should be some investigation of the police — their capacity, ability and presence in terms of monitoring this group.”
Leaders also called for a commission on “racism, reconciliation and restoration.”
A commission, the group said, could look at organizations like Patriot Front in terms of membership and activity, and renew research into policies to actively address racism.
Mayor Michelle Wu has scheduled a closed-to the press briefing Tuesday with her office, BPD Superintendent in Chief Greg Long, U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, elected officials and community leaders. That group is expected to speak with the press after the briefing.
Following Saturday’s march, Wu and others denounced the group’s actions and launched a civil rights probe to investigate the incident.
“We’ve never been whole as as a city,” Peterson said. “And we think that this opportunity that we encounter now, in the wake of this tragedy, is a moment in which we can teach ourselves how to be better … how we can move on to repair divisions, and towards reconciliation. The commission would function as a as a tool of government in order to move the culture of the city forward.”