Oklahoma City’s Martin Luther King Jr. Tree of Life thrives despite years of hardship

By Kolby Terrell

Click here for updates on this story

    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — As we celebrate Black History Month, KOCO 5 is looking to the people and icons making and preserving Black history in our community.

That includes one tree on our state Capitol grounds. But preserving the Martin Luther King Jr. Tree of Life hasn’t always been easy.

The original tree at the Oklahoma State Capitol Park was planted in the ’80s, but it was vandalized multiple times, so the plaque now sits under the tree.

And the leaders who were there when it was first planted say it’s the perfect symbol.

“Reason why it was cut down was because of what it represented,” said Roosevelt Milton, former Martin Luther King Alliance president.

The Tree of Life stands tall at the Oklahoma State Capitol, but it hasn’t always represented Martin Luther King Jr.

The MLK Alliance said when they asked Gov. George Nigh to plant it in the ’80s, there wasn’t pushback, and the state paid for it.

“By the time the governor got to thinking about it, and the implications … implications of putting that the tree up. He was in favor of it,” Milton said.

But whatever pushback that didn’t come from the government was still out there somewhere.

Vandalism wrecked the tree multiple times, all because it’s dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.

“It was just those first three or four years. Someone … got upset that we planted a tree,” Milton said.

Finally, after three or four trees died, they decided to replace another tree and move it closer to the Capitol.

“Then it was really open, and anybody could come through here that wanted to,” said Ray Reid, former park manager.

There are no pictures of the original tree, but another tree sits in its place. KOCO 5 visited the new and old spots with the green thumb who cared for them all those years ago.

“This one was the one that was vandalized?” KOCO 5 reporter Kolby Terrell asked Reid.

“Right? And it was about 5 or 6 feet tall. It was just as tall as you are,” Reid said.

“But now it’s still grown up?” Terrell asked.

“Right, but this is the fourth or fifth one,” Reid said.

He was the first to see every instance of vandalism.

“I was disappointed. Yes, I was surprised and disappointed. I mean, I don’t know why someone would do that except … I guess they didn’t like what it symbolized,” Reid said.

Things like cutting off and snapping branches and even more jarring methods.

“One time, they put something in the ground that sterilized the soil, and it pretty much we had to replace a lot of the soil around the tree,” Reid said.

Even still, you can see some of the patchy spots where that chemical was poured. Nobody was ever caught, but they say they know the kind of person it was.

“People who carry anger and hate are corroding from inside of themselves. Anger and hate corrodes the vessel that it’s carried in. And this is just an example of people who don’t appreciate other people,” Reid said.

The former president of the MLK Alliance told KOCO 5 that the journey it has gone through of life and death is exactly the symbol they were expecting.

“To continue to fight for, to stay in the struggle for justice, equality of opportunity, those kinds of things,” Milton said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.