Imari Paris Jeffries Joins Us For Some "Good Trouble"

Good Trouble host Greg Ball welcomes Embrace CEO and friend Imari Paris Jeffries to showcase the modest beginnings and evolution of Embrace Boston, originally named KING Boston. They reminisce about being roommates in Mission Hill with a group of other friends who all lived in the same building, "a broke and Black Melrose Place" where community building and strategy was released. They discuss challenges around the start of creating the monument honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King in the wake of the pandemic and the George Floyd murder. We learn how building the monument became secondary to our new reality, and supporting small business and the community at large was center stage. Imari explains societal rituals and storytelling that surround monuments, and how they shape perception and ultimately history. He explains the deliberate approach ensuring "The Embrace" represents the values with a lens for all Black Americans. They talk about the future of Embrace Boston, the continued effort of visibility, through storytelling, events, festivals and its organization's overall expansion and growth.