The Cape is a diverse place ... A lot of folks think it’s just old white people who live there, and that’s so far from the truth.

— Tara Vargas-Wallace, founder Amplify POC Cape Cod

Leaning into Love

About the Author: Teresa Martin

MLK Action Team's Martin Luther King Jr. annual breakfast honors, inspires, and sanity-checks.

Click on image to watch video news short.

19 January 2026 – ORLEANS, MA – At Nauset Interfaith’s MLK Action Team’s annual MLK Jr. breakfast, Tara Vargas Wallace received the award for racial justice, and hundreds of people—online and in person—leaned into love.

What is the MLK Breakfast?

The annual event at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans honors and celebrates the message of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr.—a message that all people everywhere are equal members of the human family, regardless of color or creed.

This year, despite a snowy start to the morning, close to 200 people from across Cape Cod gathered to commit to continuing action for racial and social justice, according to Karen Boujoukas, chair of the MLK Action Committee.

What happened at the MLK Breakfast?

Throughout the morning of shared food, singing, prayer, and preaching, the theme Leading with Love took center stage.

Rev. Liz Walker delivered the keynote, leaning into King’s message of “disinterested love”: selfless, unconditional, redemptive love for all.

Walker, who many in greater Boston remember as the popular long-term WBZ-TV news anchor from 1981 to 2021, was the first black female in that role. She went on to serve as pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church. She recently authored No One Left Alone and is co-founder of Can We Talk, a program for post-traumatic healing.

Tara Vargas Wallace, founder of Amplify POC Cape Cod, received the MLK Junior Award for Racial Justice.

Why was Tara Vargas Wallace recognized?

Vargas Wallace launched the nonprofit Amplify POC Cape Cod, an organization that works to close the racial wealth gap on Cape Cod, in part by supporting ownership and entrepreneurship in communities of color.

“The Cape is a diverse place… A lot of folks think it’s just old white people who live there, and that’s so far from the truth,” said Vargas Wallace.

Does Cape Cod have a diverse population?

“The Cape is full of large communities of color. Obviously it’s also majority white, but there are large communities of color here and I feel like we’re kind of invisible,” said Vargas Wallace.

“But we are contributing members to the fabric of this community…We are entrepreneurs, we are leaders, we are justice seekers we are family members and we are human beings who deserve to be respected and who deserve to know that we also belong here and we also deserve to take up space,” she added.

Is there racism on Cape Cod?

Organizers of the event said Cape Cod, like everywhere, can show a racist side. It might be traffic stops or subtle actions like a store ignoring customers who are people of color.

“It absolutely happens here. It’s sad but it’s true” said Boujoukas, chair of the MLK Action Committee. “We just have to always step up and speak up.”

That’s also why events like this matter so much, she said. “This is important because it brings people together who have similar values, a similar vision of a kinder, gentler Cape Cod, and it joins us together.”