King's vision echoes amid national debates
Messages both inspiring and somber thundered from pulpits, hotel ballrooms, and city streets yesterday as the region and the nation marked what many cited as the unfinished legacy of slain civil rights crusader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
On the holiday honoring King's work toward nonviolence and racial equality, more than 1,200 gathered at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in the Back Bay for the 33d annual breakfast in King's name, an event that attracted the city and state's top political figures.
From a church in suburban Maryland, President Bush - who ignited criticism by opposing the use of racial preferences in college admissions - said the country still has "more to do" to achieve King's vision.
Speaking to an overflow audience at the Atlanta church where King served as co-pastor, his widow, Coretta Scott King, echoed speakers at other King celebrations when she called for peace rather than war with Iraq, an action the Bush administration has been contemplating.
The Cambridge Peace Commission held a "Standing With Martin" vigil on Massachusetts Avenue, using King's message of unity to protest possible military action in Iraq.
About 500 people gathered in St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cambridge to hear readings from an antiwar speech King delivered in 1967.
"We're now seeing what King was really about, which was courage and standing up for an America that is a force for good in the world, instead of for destruction," said Nancy Murray, a member of the Cambridge Peace Commission.
The antiwar theme, calls to protect Massachusetts' impoverished citizens during the state's fiscal crisis, and Bush's stance on affirmative action marked speakers' remarks at the King breakfast in Boston. St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church and Union United Methodist Church sponsored the event, which, as in past years, drew the area's most powerful political leaders, including Governor Mitt Romney, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, US Representative Stephen F. Lynch, state legislators, and Boston city councilors.
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said he stands "shoulder to shoulder" with the University of Michigan in defending admissions rules that give added weight to minority applicants. The US Supreme Court will hear two cases this year challenging the constitutionality of those admissions policies at the undergraduate level and at its law school.
"We cannot be giving up on affirmative action right now," Reilly said to applause. "We have a long way to go before we reach Dr. King's dream of equality for all people."
Last week, the Bush administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court, arguing against the university's admissions policies. The administration contended that the goal of racial diversity can be achieved without such preferences.
Also at the breakfast, keynote speaker David Hall, a professor at Northeastern University's School of Law, implored the crowd to forget the "collective complacency" of the times and become a champion of the powerless or the poor.
"The greatest gift and legacy of Dr. King is not what he did 40, 50 years ago, but the philosophy and spirit he bequeathed to us so we can meet the challenges of today," Hall said. "In times like these, we need a King."
It was a remark Hall repeated throughout his speech, and he brought the audience to its feet when he concluded by declaring, "In times like these, you and I must become the King."
Nearly all speakers mentioned the $600 million in state budget cuts this year that threaten funding for cities and towns and for human services, already battered after a year of cost-cutting. They invoked King in saying that the state's most vulnerable citizens, regardless of race, should not suffer during the budget shortfalls, which could exceed $2 billion next year.
"We have to make tough decisions about government in the next 18 months, and Dr. King will be here with us to make sure people are treated with dignity and respect," Menino said.
Romney, who last week signed a bill giving him authority to slice a third of this year's budget gap from local aid sources, did not mention the fiscal crisis. He focused on themes of leadership, saying that the best leaders are not just spit-and-polish CEOs or highly focused managers, but those with hearts and visions, such as King.
"They have, if you will, the sweet milk of love and human kindness which flows from them, rather than the gall of bitterness," Romney said.
Other events honoring King yesterday included a forum on youth leadership at Northeastern University, sponsored by the Boston chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice, and a morning march and rally of about 50 people that began at a fitting location: Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Dorchester. 