Leader Of Boston Group Calls To Rename Faneuil Hall
BOSTON (CBS) -- How would you feel if Faneuil Hall was renamed?
Boston religious leaders gathered on Wednesday at the historic building to condemn the violence in Charlottesville. That is when Kevin Peterson, founder of the New Democracy Coalition, suggested it.
"Here in this very place on this very ground, we see an embarrassment to the community of color in Boston, an embarrassment to white people of good mind and good spirit in Boston because this place is named after a man who engaged in the sale of human flesh and we should be quite frankly embarrassed by that. I've called on the mayor in recent months to look into renaming this building," said Peterson.
"It's an embarrassment to this city to remain focusing on this place as a place of celebration and as a place of which we should have some civic pride with this name attached to it."
He proposed that the building is renamed after Crispus Attucks, a black man, who was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre.
Boston's famous Faneuil Hall was donated to the city by Peter Faneuil, a merchant in the area during the 1700s.
He both owned and traded slaves.