King’s lessons still need to be learned, civic leaders say

BOSTON – Boston civic and civil rights leaders of many stripes gathered Monday morning to commemorate the life and work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., with many suggesting that the Baptist minister would be disappointed with today's politics.

From Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh to Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Bay State political leaders contributed thoughts on King's legacy at the 46th annual event, hosted by Union United Methodist Church in the South End and St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in Roxbury at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. In 1970, a group of women in the two churches hosted the first event, a breakfast meeting, in their fellowship halls two years after the Nobel Peace Prize winner was shot down in Memphis, Tennessee.