"This is a unifier": Liz Walker shares push behind MLK Jr.'s Embrace memorial
BOSTON -- On this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Bostonians now have a new way to celebrate and reflect on the legacy of the revered civil rights leader. Unveiled on Friday, January 13th, The Embrace stands 20 feet high and 40 feet wide in Boston Common.
WBZ-TV spoke exclusively with Liz Walker, a Boston trailblazer, about her role in the project and what it means for Boston.
"In these days, when we're all fighting and screaming at each other, and nobody's talking to each other and we can only think of things that pull us apart— this is the unifier," Reverend Liz Walker told WBZ-TV's Courtney Cole.
Nearly 60 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, shared a very special embrace after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Now, it's forever memorialized in Boston Common.
Walker said the memorial was the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Paul English, and he asked her for help.
"Embrace really stands for love that begins with the family—but then it spreads out to the community. And we think of Boston as one community; we have to learn to love each other and learn from each other. And I look at Embrace as a symbol of that," English said.
Walker wears many hats, including co-founder and co-chair of Embrace Boston --a local organization, as explained on their website, that uses the arts, culture, community, and research to dismantle structural racism.
But no matter her role, she's always worked with one goal in mind: making a greater Boston. "To be able to talk to the communities is my contribution, and to see what people wanted."
She said the communities desire action, justice, and programs. "That's going to be connected into this, because of the brilliance of Imari Paris Jeffries and Pastor Jeff Brown," she said.
Imari Paris Jeffries is the Executive Director of Embrace Boston. "To have The Embrace be part of the transformation of our city is just unbelievable and amazing. And unveiling the memorial in time for the King holiday almost amplifies it. It's almost as if someone merged Christmas, New Year's, Easter, and your birthday--all on one holiday," Jeffries said.
"I would really want people to see that although Boston has always had this reputation around racial division and racial animus, that in the midst of that—there are people, communities that are seeking to find ways to move beyond that and the quest for equity, and the quest for inclusion. The whole idea of a beloved community—I will not give up until we see that fulfilled. So that's what all of this means for me, and particularly for Boston," said Reverend Jeffrey Brown, a co-founder and co-chair of Embrace Boston.
The names of local leaders connected to this project are forever etched into the stone of the 1965 Freedom Plaza.
"People get their due, who may not have gotten their due before," Walker explained.
"You know, it's a memorial about messages. The plaza is based on the African-American quilting, tradition, where messages and codes were hidden. And when you go there, and you look down, you'll see that message and code. So, hopefully, someone will figure it out, and we'll share that code and that message together," Jeffries explained.
"What I like most about this work, that Hank Willis Thomas has put together, is the idea that it's abstract. It's not just a face or a statue, it is the idea of actual embracing," Walker said. "I hope that this stirs everybody up to think about where we've been, who brought us here, and where we have to go -- embracing that."