Honoring MLK Jr.’s legacy at his Boston ‘home’ church
More than 100 congregants at the annual Martin Luther King Jr., convocation in Boston on Sunday were urged to honor MLK Jr.’s legacy and continue to push forward “on equity and inclusion” in a city that now has several black elected officials, many speakers highlighted.
Held at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury — the Boston “home” church of King — keynote speaker Suffolk Sheriff Steven Tompkins encouraged attendees to help others. He often quoted MLK Jr., including, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ”
“Well on this day, an African-American sheriff stands before you, but I’m not alone,” Tompkins added. “Suffolk County is governed by a black district attorney. The city of Boston has a black police commissioner and a black chief of the MBTA. The Boston City Council president is a woman of color, and for the first time ever it has as its majority people of color, with eight of the 13 seats being occupied by women.”
“Change is not coming — change has arrived,” the sheriff said emphatically.
Ahead of his convocation address, the Rev. Willie Bodrick II called Tompkins a “chain breaker and a liberator,” citing his creation of the Common Ground Institute, a vocational training and re-entry program.
While a doctoral student at Boston University, King made Twelfth Baptist Church his second home church and preached frequently at morning and evening services there.
KING Boston, a nonprofit, is working with the city to create a memorial honoring the legacy of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King — and their time and work in Boston. “The Embrace” memorial will be anchored on the Boston Common.
“Wouldn’t it be nice for us to have a groundbreaking at the time of the NAACP (convention this summer)?” said Marie St. Fleur, executive director of KING Boston.
City Council President Kim Janey called upon attendees to “push forward on principles that Dr. King cared about, principles of equity and inclusion in our city and making sure that everyone here in Boston can share in the prosperity in Boston.”
“We have so much work to do,” said Janey, who received the MLK Leadership Award.
As Washington, D.C., leadership has “lost its way,” Mayor Martin Walsh said Boston has an opportunity to lead change and help “rebuild America’s moral compass.”
“Now is the time to keep Dr. King’s message in our hearts,” Walsh said, later adding, “Through his words, through his actions, through his spirit, we have an obligation to continue what he started out to talk about, and the changes he was preaching and actually making happen.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/382JsyC
Post a Comment