Sen. Elizabeth Warren took to the podium at a breakfast honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to "affirm that black lives matter," linking the 1960s civil rights icon with the controversial modern movement.
"[W]e can't ignore reality," the Massachusetts Democrat told a crowd of hundreds at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center,
MassLive.com reports. "As we honor Dr. King today, we are reminded that we still have much work to do. We have much work to do so black men and women no longer fear dying in our streets."
"[L]ike the civil rights movement of 50 years ago it comes to us once again to affirm that black lives matter, black citizens matter and black families matter," Warren said, tying a contemporary movement that has been accused by
officials and
critics of celebrating the murders of police officers with the famed civil rights figure who championed non-violence.
Warren was
strongly encouraged by liberal Democrats in 2015 to run for president as a progressive challenger to front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Former Massachusetts
Gov. Deval Patrick, who President Barack Obama said in 2014 "would make a great president," was even more blunt in his comments at a similar MLK breakfast.
Speaking at the Minneapolis Convention Center Monday, Patrick, the first black governor in the Bay State's history, referenced police shootings of black youths by asking, "What kind of people harbor fear of someone like me that they shoot before they ask questions?" the
St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
"I hate mob behavior," Patrick, who has been appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a senior advisor to a task force that is reviewing the city's police department following public outrage in the wake of the release of a videotape of the 2014 police shooting of a black teenager, said.
"I don't want unrest on the streets. But I do want unrest in our hearts and minds."
Black Lives Matter protesters reportedly aimed to
disrupt MLK observances in several cities, including Denver and Minneapolis.
Protesters planned to attempt to shut down a bridge in Minneapolis, the Pioneer Press reports.
Meanwhile, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, an annual MLK parade included an unusual float.
"The Faith & Power Christian Center used music and people to portray a confrontation between a young black man and a white police officer that resulted in his shooting death," the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel reports.
"Cries of 'Hands up, don't shoot!' were part of the recorded soundtrack," the paper reports.
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