Pastor Ashlee Wiest-Laird via Facebook
"Black Lives Matter" sign on the lawn at First Baptist Church in JP. The sign was stolen the week of Oct. 5, 2015. The church will be reinstalling the sign on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 1 pm.
On Sunday the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain will reinstall its "Black Lives Matter" sign that was vandalized and thrown in the trash in early October.
Jamaica Plain’s First Baptist Church, located at 633 Centre St., has been playing a role in the nation-wide “Black Lives Matter” movement. Pastor Ashlee Wiest-Laird and Rev. Osagyefo Sekou have been very involved in the national movement and were among members of the First Baptist community who travelled to Ferguson, Mo. to protest the police killing of Michael Brown. Sekou has since moved on from First Baptist to St. Louis. Both were arrested there during a protest in October 2014.
“The sign disappeared — all of it. The wood frame, the stakes, the whole thing. We looked at the footage from our camera, and this guy came up, picked up the whole thing, and walked off with it,” Wiest-Laird told the Boston Globe.
"Racism is alive and well in our country, even here in our beloved JP. We would appreciate your participation with us as we take a stand for social justice, despite those who try to silence or undermine this message," said a Facebook book from JP's First Baptist Church.
In a Facebook post, JP's First Baptist Church announced the reinstallation of the sign to be held in a public ceremony:
"First, our Black Lives Matter sign was taken and put in the trash, but we recovered it. Recently it was stolen completely. Please join us in a community-wide gathering to re-install our banner. Racism is alive and well in our country, even here in our beloved JP. We would appreciate your participation with us as we take a stand for social justice, despite those who try to silence or undermine this message."
The First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain's logo
JP's First Baptist Church is an accepting community, evidenced by a logo on their Facebook page with a rainbow in the background of a drawn image of the church with the phrase "Many Cultures One Faith."
The reinstallation will take place at 1 pm at the church at 633 Centre St.