Date/Time
Date(s) - Thursday, Sep 03
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Location
Newburyport

Categories

• Black Lives Matter

On August 22nd, a boat parade was held as a rally for Donald Trump. Individuals from Newburyport, Massachusetts, and surrounding communities came to Waterfront Park during this rally, and several Black and Brown community members experienced racial harassment from those in attendance. Protestors of the Trump rally witnessed Newburyport Police Department officers supporting and commending those attending the rally.
Comrades, action must be taken in response to this injustice. We must stand in solidarity with Black and Brown community members and amplify their voices. Newburyport should be held accountable, not only for its internalized racism and complacency, but for its exploitative history and the privilege its history has created. What took place in Newburyport on August 22nd is not exclusive to that day, nor is it a representation of this town alone. Communities in the North Shore and within Massachusetts have benefited from genocide, colonialism, human trafficking, systemic racism, and generational wealth for centuries. White people in this state and in America as a whole continue to reap the benefits of the exploited labor of Black and Brown people. On September 3rd, we will take action and demand accountability from Newburyport.
Whenever protests for Black lives are organized in the area, we hear people say ‘racism doesn’t exist in their town,’ dismissing that their town was built off of racial exploitation. The community of Newburyport seems to forget their city was a sea port used to traffic human beings. Their city’s prosperity came from building the ships which transported Black people kidnapped from from their communities in Central and West Africa. Many white families in Newburyport today fail to recognize they inherited their wealth and status from their ancestors kidnapping and exploiting Black and Brown people for capitalistic gain.
While the city of Newburyport has stated “The City is very proud of its history,” this is a call for those in Newburyport to remember their true history. A reminder that their generational wealth, which contributes to the social wealth and privileges the people in the city of Newburyport benefit from today, came from the exploitation of Black and Brown people. Many people in this community deny their white privilege or even the existence of it. You cannot see the privileges you have and the racism you contribute to if it permeates your culture to such a degree that you never see your neighbors, friends, policemen, or yourself interact with people of a different race. More than nine out of ten Newburyport residents are white. For white people in this community, the fact that everyone around you looks like you is a privilege.
Newburyport and its surrounding communities have been predominantly white for decades, which discourages diversification because of the conscious and unconscious racism that is a part of daily life. The businesses are predominantly owned by white people, their services accommodate and cater to almost exclusively to white clientele, and their city’s high property taxes, created from both redlining and generational wealth, allow for funding of their community’s resources.
Newburyport, as well as the state of Massachusetts, have proven to be blind of the privilege they have. We hope to open the eyes of this town to the oppression that supports its affluent culture. Comrades take action with us, we intend on disrupting the status quo until Newburyport makes reparations for their exploitative history and their overt and complacent racism.