The city of Newark unveiled as 700-pound bronze statue of George Floyd in front of City Hall as a way of paying tribute.

Mayor Ras Baraka, actor and filmmaker Leon Pickney and artist Stanley Watts unveiled  the statue that was commissioned by Pickney, sculpted by Watts, and donated this week to the City of Newark.

Floyd’s murder sparked global protests for racial injustice after he died at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

“Hopefully when people walk by and they see it, and they participate, hopefully it inspires them to become active in the struggles that are happening right here in Newark and right here in New Jersey,” Baraka said.

The statue will remain outside City Hall for at least one year.

The ceremony also honored Juneteenth.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved African Americans of the Emancipation Proclamation and their freedom.