Keith Boykin, editor of The Daily Voice and television pundit has been chosen to replace Soledad O’Brien as the keynote speaker for Wednesday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Evening Celebration. O’Brien, a correspondent for CNN, has been deployed to Haiti to cover the developing situation in the wake of last week’s earthquake.

Boykin has been active in politics for over 20 years, participating in six political campaigns, including President Clinton’s successful run in 1992. He later served as a White House aide for Clinton. He is also a frequent television contributor on CNBC and co-hosts My Two Cents on BET J. In addition, he has also written three New York Times best-selling books on the African-American Gay community.

I don’t think the event has lost anything replacing O’Brien with Boykin. Boykin has some interesting perspectives on race and his speech should be though provoking.

The event beings at 6 p.m. on Wednesday and free tickets are available at the Eisenhower Auditorium ticket office.