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Forget the sequester, Capitol Hill has something else to rejoice about! 

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Today, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders unveiled a full-length statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks. The statue is an ode to Parks, for her courage to face injustice.

The statue of Parks makes her the first black woman to be honored with a full-length statue in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Abolitionist Sojourner Truth also graces the Capitol’s halls, only her sculpture sits in the Capitol Visitor’s Center.

The statue portrays Parks seated, wearing a hat and clutching her trademark purse — “a permanent reminder of the cause she embodied,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Obama said of the statue:

“It reminds us no matter how humble or lofty our positions, just what it is that leadership requires.”

“We do well by placing a statue of her here,” Obama said, “but we can do no greater honor to her memory than to carry forward the power of her principle and a courage born of conviction.”

Obama continued, saying that Parks has taken her rightful place among those who have shaped the course of U.S. history.

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Obama and House Speaker John Boehner set aside their sequester differences to jointly lead the unveiling, standing with the statue between them as they grasped and pulled in opposite directions on the braided cord that held the covering. 

Now that’s a little positivity! Maybe the statue can inspire Washington to fix those forced budget cuts taking place next week!

SOURCE: AP