Houston officials and residents honored civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with a statue on Saturday.

National leaders and activists have been pushing for the statue for decades. 

From KHOU: 

Martin Luther King, III said the movement goes on “until there is equal justice for everyone.”

After speeches by dozens of local and national politicians and activists, the moment arrived and the bronze statue was unveiled.

Years ago activists planted a tree in a median of Houston’s MLK Boulevard to stand “as a sentinel” until a statue could be erected. When Metro started work on an MLK rail line, it wanted to remove the tree. The head of the Black Heritage Society chained himself to it in protest.

Read more at KHOU

The tree, named The Tree of Life, was moved to MacGregor Park. A memorial plaza was designed and built near the tree. The bronze statue was commissioned and paid for with private funds.

Many stood in the heat for hours waiting for the statue to be unveiled. Dr. King’s son Martin Luther King Jr., said he was pleased with the work.

 

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