‘The Embrace’: Boston Looks Ahead To MLK Memorial As Monuments Come Down Across UShttps://t.co/mZ9rzzPnZV pic.twitter.com/4RcVP9017Q
— WBZ | CBS Boston News (@wbz) January 18, 2021
I am aware that discussing Dr. King’s legacy is so very much Not My Place, but nominally I’d agree celebration is preferable to the alternative…
… “While the rest of the country is tearing down memorials to symbols that don’t represent us, Boston is building a memorial — a 22-foot, three-story high memorial — that represents who we want to be and who we want to be post-pandemic,” said King Boston Executive Director Imari Paris Jeffries. “That feels pretty darn exciting.”
‘The Embrace’ will stand at the site of the 1965 rally and march led by MLK on the Boston Common. Construction wouldn’t begin on site until March or April of 2022 because the bronze fabrication of the memorial takes about 18 months.
The memorial also celebrates King’s connection to Boston. Years before his iconic 1963 speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Boston was home to a young Martin Luther King Jr. He lived on Mass. Ave and studied at Boston University. It was there where he would earn a PhD in systematic theology and become Dr. King. Boston is also where he met Coretta Scott. For artist Hank Willis Thomas, the couple’s bond inspired the memorial that will rise in honor of their legacies…
“I think we as a city and a country have experienced an extreme amount of trauma together, it is this bonding experience we didn’t want and we never asked for and would never wish upon another generation. And the things that we’ve gotten to see and witness together has created this new urgency that I think resonates with every single person at least that’s in the Commonwealth,” said Paris Jeffries. “King’s notion of this garment of destiny and the Beloved Community resonate now more than it ever has.”…
But sometimes, the hypocrisy also needs to be called out:
Belated MLK Day Open Thread: The Tribute Vice Pays to VirtuePost + Comments (33)