The goals of interracial peace and equality sought by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have not been achieved, area politicians and religious leaders said Monday at Boston’s 34th annual breakfast honoring the late civil rights leader.
Episcopal Bishop Vashti Murphy-McKenzie led the call for continued community action against racism and for diversity, while the nearly 1,200 area residents who turned out for the breakfast feasted on scrambled eggs and ham at the Prudential Center’s Sheraton Hotel.
McKenzie said while the United States has undergone a transformation in race relations since King’s death in 1968, Americans should continue to follow his model and “build bridges of reconciliation” between the various cultures in our world.
“Dr. King chose to go to the front line of action when he had every excuse [to] move aside in an unsympathetic and inhospitable environment,” McKenzie said. “You cannot lead from the sidelines, you cannot lead from the back of the bus – Dr. King led from the heat of the battle and so must we. We must move to the front of the line. We cannot sit and wait for someone else to carry the dream – it is time for us to carry the dream out there.”
Mayor Thomas Menino’s speech closely echoed McKenzie’s words. Menino stressed the importance of diversity in Boston’s neighborhoods and encouraged those in attendance to apply Dr. King’s philosophies of multiculturalism to everyday life.
“The diversity of our community is the strength of our community, and we have to work together to dream the dream,” Menino said. “To achieve the dream, we need to work to bring people together and make sure the diversity of our community is respected by all. Let’s make sure we treat all people respectively and with dignity, no matter what color their skin, what country they’re from or what language they speak.”
Gov. Mitt Romney said Massachusetts citizens need to promote diversity, and he commemorated King by suggesting that he embodied the values of the greatest American presidents.
“When I think of Dr. King, I think of the defining leader of the 20th century whose fights never end,” Romney said. “It is an honor to be fighting in some way in his shadow as we all do. We have a lot of work to do in honoring this great man.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, in a speech linking King’s efforts to today, said his office supports affirmative action. Reilly also said that in order to improve race relations within Massachusetts, the state is beginning examine how racial profiling may be linked to traffic violations.
“My favorite saying is a phrase of Dr. King, which is, ‘The time is always right to do what is right,'” Reilly said. “One of our primary areas of focus this year will be on the racial profiling in traffic stops. In the next few days, there will be a gathering of data and we will analyze such issues that occur across the state.”
The breakfast was not dominated entirely by grave messages from politicians and speakers, however.
The Chicago Children’s choir performed an ensemble of pieces that encouraged community togetherness, and Renese King, of Boston’s United Methodist Church, performed “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” as audience members closed their eyes.
But for Ivy Callender, a Jamaica Plain native who has attended the annual breakfast since its inception, remembering King is more important than the food, speakers or entertainment.
“I think it is important to commemorate Dr. King’s birth,” Callender said. “He was very important, especially in the life of my family, because of his ideas and effort to the civil rights movement.”
Estella Johnson, who recently moved from North Carolina to Shrewsbury came not only to commemorate King, but also because the Boston Martin Luther King breakfast has become known nationwide.
“It’s just something you know about,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for all people, regardless of race, to come under the ideals that Dr. King expressed – he showed we miss out by excluding a certain portion of the population.”
Chantal Charles of Boston, who has come to the breakfast with her daughter in past years, brought her two sons as a way to introduce them to King’s teachings.
“I like the breakfast because it’s good to show everyone the good Martin Luther King did do for everyone,” said Charles’s 12-year-old son Johnathan. “If it weren’t for Martin Luther King, there wouldn’t be peace between races.”