BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Dozens gathered in the Boston Common Wednesday to break ground on a new monument honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King.
The monument is called The Embrace, which features a sculpture of large interlocking bronze arms "in the power of a loving embrace", according to King Boston, the organization behind the monument. It will stand near the Parkman Bandstand.
Imari Paris Jeffries, the executive director of King Boston, told WBZ's Karyn Regal the monument is an important inclusion in the Common.
"We see Boston being a place that is more inclusive and welcoming," Paris Jeffries said. "A memorial on the Freedom Trail in America's oldest park says that."
The memorial will celebrate King and his wife, who met in Boston and went for walks in the Common, along with their ties to the city of Boston. King lived in Boston and studied at Boston University, where he got a Ph.D. in systematic theology.
Former acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey, the first Black Mayor of the City of Boston, spoke about the importance of the monument at the event.
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"To be able to change the narrative in terms of inclusion and who belongs in our city and in our public spaces is so very powerful," Janey said.
The memorial is expected to be unveiled next April.
WBZ's Karyn Regal (@karynregal) reports.
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