Boston reparations task force will not complete work by end-of-year target

The task force charged with making recommendations to city leaders regarding possible reparations for Black Bostonians will not complete its work by the end of this year as originally planned, its chair said this week. Attorney Joseph Feaster, who oversees the task force, said the group is still gathering research in what is the first of three phases involved with creating its final report. “Unfortunately, the timeframes that were set forth in the ordinance were a bit ambitious,” Feaster said. Mayor Michelle Wu appointed the task force last February to consider reparations for the descendants of enslaved people. Boston is one of the largest American cities undergoing such a review, with groups in Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Detroit, St. Louis, Providence and Northampton, Mass. also working to identify their respective cities’ ties to slavery and explore reparations. In Boston, a city ordinance created the group and stated that its members should serve through the end of 2024, unless otherwise determined by the mayor. The ordinance outlined that the group’s first phase of work —  to research and document the city’s role in slave trade — was to be done by last June. However, the task force did not appoint researchers...