There were originally about eight people involved who had this idea, and those eight people come from various organizing groups in the Boston area, the group member said by phone. Mostly groups that affiliate with racial justice causes. And the banner came in response to the racist comments at the beginning of the season at Fenway [that Adam Jones spoke of].
But overall, we saw, we see Boston continually priding itself as a kind of liberal, not racist city, and are reminded also constantly that its actually an extremely segregated city. It has been for a long time, and that no white people can avoid the history of racism, essentially. So we did this banner as a gesture towards that, to have a conversation about that.
The Black Lives Matter movement was one of the groups inspirations.
The banner's intended message didn't make it across to everyone clearly, however. On social media, some people thought the banner was promoting racism. Others simply noted ambiguity.
The group was somewhat surprised by the confusion.
"I guess we should have seen that coming, but we also didnt think of it as an ambiguous message," the group member said. "Its kind of telling that it is being interpreted as one."
The group expected to be ejected from Fenway Park. The group member said they had been in touch with IfNotNowWhen, a group that unfurled a banner with political messaging about the Middle East at Fenway in June.
A U.S. military veteran was honored as the banner was unfurled, but the group member said that timing was coincidental.