When did Wakefield‘s official Martin Luther King Day observance turn into a partisan political rally?

That’s what happened on Monday when two of the main speakers, State Senator Jason Lewis and State Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian, stepped to the microphone and hijacked this solemn event to bash the sitting American president with highly partisan speeches.

There is near universal agreement across the political and ideological spectrum that Dr. Martin Luther King was a towering historical figure and a force for good in America. Still, most people aren’t especially political and would be more inclined to come out and honor the accomplishments of Dr. King if they didn’t have to be subjected to partisan diatribes from opportunistic politicians.

Two other national holidays, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, are also observed with local ceremonies every year. Why do those events attract crowds many times larger than the MLK Day event? Could it be because the organizers keep the partisan politics out and focus on the real purpose of the observance? Regardless of your political persuasion, absolutely everyone feels welcome at local Memorial Day and Veterans Day events, and it shows in the size of the crowds those events attract.

Why then, would the organizers allow an event to honor Dr. King’s legacy to become blatantly partisan, effectively alienating large segments of the population?

If the purpose is to educate people about the work and ideas of Dr. King, wouldn’t the organizers want to expand their reach instead of preaching to the same choir of a few dozen like-minded people year after year? And if politicians are unable or unwilling to tone down their partisan rhetoric for one hour, maybe stop inviting them to speak.

The annual Martin Luther King Day observance is an official town-sponsored event, advertised on the town website and held in a public building paid for by all the taxpayers. Maybe someone from the town needs to remind the organizers at the Wakefield Human Rights Commission that it’s supposed to be an event for everyone, not just progressive activists and politicians.

To the extent that Dr. King was political, his were the politics of unity and inclusion. With its aggressively partisan and divisive speeches, Monday’s MLK event was neither inclusive nor welcoming to a large swath of the Wakefield populace.

And spare me the lectures about free speech. I fully understand that the event speakers have the First Amendment right to say whatever they want. But unless they tone down the divisive political rhetoric, they will continue speaking to mostly empty auditoriums.
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[This column originally appeared in the January 22, 2026 Wakefield Daily Item.]

Auditorium Photo by Neil Zolot