Now in its 45th year, Boston's Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast drew its usual diverse crowd, inspiring vocalists and the state's top politicians.
"Men and women in every city are taking to the streets to demand justice. They're standing up, lying down, marching, chanting, crying, pleading for justice," said Mass. Senator Ed Markey.
And with events in Ferguson and New York City, involving the deaths of a black males at the hands of a white police officers, many were wondering how Dr. King would feel about recent protests that have played out in Boston.
"We have this year in front of us a new generation of civil rights leaders. A new generation of activists," Boston State Senator Sonia Chang Diaz.
Diaz dedicated the breakfast to young people saying Dr.King would be pleased and proud of what they are doing adding, "We have seen you and heard you and are proud to be on your team."
Some also questioned what King would have thought specifically of the I-93 protest on Friday morning where people chained themselves to cement blocks, snarling rush hour traffic for hours.
"I believe he would have approved of their cause. I mean, in other instances, they've done that before. They've linked ARMS, not arms in cement while going out to... And streets, but I don't think they would have done that," said one Boston school student.
Charlotte Golar Richie, who heads up the Mass Commission against Discrimination said, "You have to be mindful of the fact that people, if their safety is put at risk, we all have a responsibility there."
"I think he would agree that the concept of business is usual is a perpetuation of injustice," said Boston City Councilor Charles Yancey.
The topic is also being debated at the Massachusetts state house where legislation has been filed that would increase penalties when protestors put lives at risk.
