Boston Marks George Floyd Anniversary With Nubian Square Rally and Reparations Call

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston Mayor Kim Janey led a public commemoration of the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder in Nubian Square, Roxbury, featuring poetry, gospel music, prayer, and speeches calling for reparations. Chief Resilience Officer Lori Nelson emceed the event, which was co-organized by the Mayor's Office of Resilience and Racial Equity, the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, the Roxbury Cultural District, King Boston, and Black Market. Janey told the crowd that police had killed at least 229 more Black people in the year since Floyd's death, averaging more than four per week. Black Market co-CEO Christopher Grant, drawing on the journal of Boston founder John Winthrop and federal records at archives.gov, argued that the value of the 40 acres and a mule promised and then revoked after the Civil War amounts to at least $6.4 trillion today, and called directly for reparations. The Reverend Art Gordon, senior pastor at St. John Missionary Baptist Church and a senior advisor to Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, closed with a call to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and led a moment of silence for those killed by police.