The city of Boston unveiled their Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, The Embrace, in the Boston Common this past week, bringing mixed feelings about the new statue from the community. But why?

The sculpture was motivated by an iconic photograph of King very happily hugging his wife, Coretta Scott King, after he won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the fight on racial inequalities in a nonviolent way. 

The photo was taken in Boston where King and his wife first met and where he earned his Ph. D in Theology from Boston University, where he began his civil rights work.

MLK and this statue means more to the city of Boston than any of us will truly understand. To get a better understanding of it, take a look at what Grant Williams said about the statue, as he wished he could’ve been in attendance for the unveiling.

“It represents the growth and the embrace of our culture in the community as well as our culture in the world. It describes a sense of how America is on its way and has grown to not only make everyone feel equal, but making us all feel like we’re all meant to belong here. And, it just shows the growth of the city itself; how Boston used to be in the past, it’s not how it is now. It still has work to do, but it just shows that it’s a step in the right direction and we’re fortunate to be a part of it.”

Grant is a firm believer in always doing the right thing to make the world a better place. He feels it’s up to the people in “high power positions” to speak up when needed.

“It’s something that my predecessors have done, it’s something that Bill Russell, one of my idols, did, and it’s something that our community needs. People in high-power positions, if they use their voice to speak up and speak out, that gives people that aren’t in those positions the right to do the same, even when they feel like they don’t have that right. It’s something that, if we can continue to do our part and encourage others to do theirs, there’s a lot of history that we can change, and also a lot of new history to be made.”

I highly encourage you all to brush up your MLK knowledge before going to visit the new monument, it will bring a whole new appreciation to it. 

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