Gala celebrates Embrace sculpture anniversary on eve of MLK Day

BOSTON — In a sold-out event on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, guests of Embrace Boston’s Friends and Family Sneaker Affair celebrated the one-year anniversary of the unveiling of the Embrace sculpture on Boston Common.

The bronze work of art depicting Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King’s embrace represents their love, marriage and work in the community. The sculpture, a work by artist Hank Willis Thomas, is based on the iconic photo of the Kings hugging after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

The indoor block party at Big Night Live Sunday included a unique dress code: fancy and sparkly on top, paired with guests’ favorite sneakers.

“What better way to celebrate than to dress up but to be comfortable? We want people to dance, and you can’t dance with high heels on and hard-bottomed shoes,” said Embrace Boston President and CEO Imari Paris Jeffries. “Sneakers are a part of culture. They’re a fashion statement. They are design. They’re something that, I think, people from different walks of life, different cultures can gravitate and bond over.”

Michael Curry, president and CEO of Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, co-chaired the event, sporting uniquely designed sneakers – on the left, Dr. King in a pensive pose, and on the right, the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.

“It’s a party,” Curry said. “We get to celebrate – celebrate his life, celebrate our work together with Embrace and then turn around, turn this into momentum to make sure we’re dealing with the social injustices in our society.”

Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers represents 52 health centers across the state, serving more than 1 million patients. About 70 percent are patients of color, disproportionately suffering from diabetes, heart disease, cancer, lupus and maternal health crises. Curry’s life’s work is to eliminate those health inequities.

Amid the dancing and socializing was a ceremony to honor three couples who embody the Kings’ love and their legacy of work toward racial justice.

Among those couples were Dr. Kia Martin and Demond Martin, who work to tackle education and health inequality. The Martins said the distinction Sunday was the honor of a lifetime.

“It’s an opportunity for young black and brown kids to see, ‘Hey. This is what love looks like. This is what service looks like. And we can do it,’” said Dr. Kia Martin, an educator at several colleges and universities.

Their work together, she said, follows the efforts of those before them who have fought racial injustice, particularly in their hometown of Boston, which has suffered from a reputation of racism and segregation in past decades.

“We know our marriage is going to do way more than we can ever do as individuals,” she said. “And so, we truly let that guide the work that we do.”

“We’ve been married for over 25 years,” Demond Martin added. “The level of support. There are so many times in my life I could’ve been broken, and she makes me whole.”

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