A crowd of hundreds came out in both Benton Harbor and St. Joseph on Tuesday for the unveiling of sister monuments to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The day was the culmination of the Unified Civic Monuments Project, a four-year effort to raise the funds needed for the installations to celebrate the message of Dr. King and bring Benton Harbor and St. Joseph together. The celebrations started at the Margaret B. Upton Arboretum in St. Joseph, where one monument sits.
Monuments project founder Sharon Brown told the crowd it took the whole community to bring this vision to fruition.
“There’s a seed being planted here today, and I mean it’s a good seed,” Brown said. “It’s up to us to make sure that this good seed is in good soil, and that soil is you, us, the people.”
The St. Joseph monument, called The Mountaintop, features statues of King and some children, along with plaques marking key moments in the Civil Rights Movement. After the unveiling, there was a march to Benton Harbor’s Dwight P. Mitchell City Center Park, where “A Seat at the Table” can now be found.
Special guest Martin Luther King III, the son of MLK, said now is the time for people to find unity.
“My father and mother dedicated their lives to making our nation and world better,” King said. “What I know is it just takes a few good human beings coming together to forge change.”
The Benton Harbor monument features a statue of Dr. King standing before a granite table where anyone can sit. A statue of a small boy is also climbing into one of the seats. Mayor Marcus Muhammad told us the huge turnout for the unveiling shows that people want to come together.
“Today was a big message, I think, to both communities as well as Southwest Michigan that it can be done,” Muhammad said. “The challenge is that it be done for more than one day.”
To remember the occasion, Benton Harbor City Commissioners have proclaimed November 19 to be MLK Unity Day.
