Recalling King’s later legacy
The Rev. Jonathan Walton, Harvard’s Pusey Minister of Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, galvanized Boston’s 43rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast this morning with a stirring keynote speech that contrasted the present-day ”sanitized and sterilized” version of the civil rights leader’s dream for America with the real message he left behind. Rev. Walton cited 1965 as an important turning point for King. It was “the year King moved beyond civil rights,” said Walton, “to human rights, to economic justice,” and to promoting peace in war-torn Vietnam. The problems of poverty and war, Walton said, remain today and seem to be worsening, as huge sums “go to support the military-industrial complex,” while programs for the poor are slashed in the name of fiscal responsibility. “We need [King’s] wisdom now like never before,” Walton said. Walton highlighted the post-1965 King as moving from scripture to political action on behalf of...