Today is the annual national holiday in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are lots of ceremonies and events in Dr. King’s honor today, and there are monuments all over the country and around the world you can visit today, or pretty much anytime.

Though some of Dr. King’s biggest fans might steer you away from some of those monuments.

When it comes to high profile monuments, you definitely can’t please everybody

The most recent example of this is a monument in Boston known as The Embrace.

The city wanted to have a monument celebrating the relationship between Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, since Boston is where they met.

He was in a PhD program at Boston University, she was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Coretta Scott’s first impression of her future husband was that he was too short and looked too young, but she warmed up to him quickly, and vice versa.

They got married in Alabama, but they started their married lives in Boston, which brings us back to the monument.

Sculptor Hank Willis Thomas wanted to create what he called “a monument to love,” since that was Boston’s piece of the Kings’ story.

He took inspiration from a 1964 photo of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King embracing after Dr. King learned he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize.

But it’s a representational artwork; it features four interlocking arms rather than full figures.

It’s part of a space on Boston Common that celebrates the Kings and many other Boston civil rights leaders.

Martin Luther King III spoke at the unveiling ceremony in 2023, saying The Embrace “truly signifies the bonds of love shared by my parents.”

And lots of people felt the same way, though plenty of others had their own thoughts.

One of Coretta Scott King’s cousins, Seneca Scott, called the 22 foot tall piece “performative altruism” and claimed that it looked like, well, let’s just say a body part that wasn’t an arm.

Others noted that the arms formed the shape of a heart when viewed from a certain angle, but from other angles, it wasn’t clear what the shape was supposed to be.

And there were people who questioned why the piece was just arms; one said it “deracialized” the Kings.

Critics have made this point about a number of King tributes, that they simplify his message and leave out some of the more political stands they he took on the issues.

The response to that might be that this piece isn’t trying to tell the Kings’ whole story, just their connections to Boston.

And honestly, this debate is pretty common with monuments.

They have fans and detractors, people with thoughtful takes and knee-jerk reactions of all kinds.

If you like The Embrace, see it for yourself next time you’re near Boston Common.

If not, there are lots of other monuments to check out, in Washington DC, Atlanta, Memphis and Selma; France and South Africa and Ghana and India and Mexico.

Not to mention the many books, articles, shows and groups that reckon with Dr. King’s life and impact in our time.

So keep looking, listening and learning, and maybe you’ll find where you can best reflect on freedom, justice, equality and love.

In the city where the Kings met, ‘The Embrace’ memorializes their love and struggle (Boston Globe)

A Stunning New Boston Memorial Will Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King (Architectural Digest)