NEWARK, NJ (News 12 NJ/CNN Newsource/WKRC) - Newark, New Jersey has a new sculpture of George Floyd outside of its city hall.

The 700-pound bronze statue, a gift by artist Stanley Watts to the city, will remain there for at least a year.

Floyd was killed last year when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned his neck to the ground for nine minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd was unarmed. Chauvin was found guilty of murder earlier this year.

At an unveiling ceremony Wednesday, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said Floyd "represents a lot more than himself at this juncture in history."

"All of the activity that took place around this country because of the untimely and vicious murder of George Floyd, and all the activism that sparked out of it, is worth us pausing and paying attention to," the mayor said.

The statue unveiling also coincides with the Juneteenth holiday, which commemorates when the last slaves were liberated in the United States on June 19, 1865.

Newark is New Jersey's largest city and the majority of the community is made up of people of color, with 50 percent of the population Black or African American.