Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, defended a brand new monument that honors his mother and father following criticism of the lately unveiled sculpture.
The monument, which is known as “The Embrace,” represents the hug Dr. King and Coretta Scott King shared after he received the Nobel Peace Price in 1964. The $10 million bronze sculpture, designed by Hank Willis Thomas and MASS Design Group, has garnered blended reactions since its unveiling final week within the Boston Common.
Lane Turner/The Boston Globe through Getty Images
King III instructed Act Daily News’s Don Lemon on Monday, which marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day, that he thought “the artist did a great job,” regardless of criticism that the monument solely depicts his mother and father’ disembodied arms.
“I’m satisfied,” King III stated. “Yeah, it didn’t have my mom and dad’s images but it represents something that brings people together. And in this day and age, when there’s so much division, we need symbols that talk about bringing us together.”
King III additionally stated that he was “moved” by the art work.
“It’s personal for me,” King III added, noting that, had his mother and father by no means met in Boston, “maybe I wouldn’t be here. So I’m grateful, number one, that it talks about the love story.”
King III concluded by telling Lemon he was completely satisfied that the monument represents his mom.
“Many monuments are done just around dad,” he stated. “But it represents the kind of relationship they had working together, and they were a partnership.”
Other kin of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King haven’t been so form of their value determinations.
Seneca Scott, a cousin of Coretta Scott King, has shared his dislike of the statue with a number of retailers, going so far as to say, “melt it down,” on Twitter.
“I still can’t get over how they tried to play my fam,” Scott wrote in one other tweet.
