BOSTON (WHDH) - Massachusetts leaders gathered Monday morning for the 56th annual Martin Luther King Jr. memorial breakfast, an event focused on King’s legacy and the importance of his teachings.
Governor Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu were among those in attendance at The Westin Copley Place at 9 a.m.
and all gave remarks.
“Dr. King said, ‘We must undergo a radical revolution of values from a thing-oriented society to a person oriented society,'” said Wu.
King’s work for civil rights in the 1960s led to major advancements in desegregation and labor rights.
Healey spoke about the current political climate and how it relates to his activism.
“Today we find ourselves in a moment of challenge. The hard-fought, hard-won gains of the civil rights movement and so many — generation after generation –are under attack,” she said. “It’s a time for leadership, it’s a time for collective leadership, it is a time for resolve.”
Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley said King’s lessons are still relevant today in the face of racial injustice.
“In the midst of this anti-Blackness on steroids, attacks on Black people, Black bodies, Black votes, Black history, Black power and progress, what calms me is knowing that somebody already wrote the blueprint for our survival,” said Pressley. “The blueprint is written in the words of Dr. King, who instructed us, especially young people, like today’s MLK scholars and art awardees to have a belief in one’s own dignity, in your worth.”
King had deep ties to Boston, earning a PHD from Boston University. He also met his wife Corretta in the city.
Boston University held their own celebration centered around a speech King made in 1967, calling racism, poverty, and militarism threats to democracy. The ceremony also looked back on King’s Freedom Rally through Boston in 1965, an act that Wu says reflects what the city stands for.
“He led 20-thousand protestors, our community and residents here in Boston, from Roxbury to the Common, to demand equal access to education, rights, and prosperity,” she said. “To keep going and moving forward despite what comes our way — is born from this spirit of Boston.”
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