It’s important that people be “all in” for justice and equality, the ideals Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for, not simply participants in events marking the civil rights icon’s legacy.
    That was the theme of the keynote speech during the Bulloch County NAACP Youth Council’s annual MLK Prayer Breakfast, held Saturday at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church.
    “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. planted a seed long ago,” said A. Maurice Brantley, vice president of the Youth and College Division of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP. “And we have to carry that seed out, the vision that he planted.”
    Brantley, an East Georgia State College sophomore majoring in political science, also expressed the importance of everyone staying informed on current events and exercising their right to vote to advance justice and equality in the nation, state and, most importantly, the local community.
    “We’ve got to show up to do the work in the community,” he said. “We must rise up when the conflict comes against us, and then turn up and celebrate the victory.”
    And that victory has already been assured, he added, if everyone participates in the cause of advancing justice and equality. Brantley referenced the biblical concepts of the race not being given to the swift or the strong, and the importance of enduring until the end.
    “We may not be strong when we start this race, we may not be almighty and all powerful. But I guarantee you, at the end of the race, you will become strong,” he said, drawing applause.
    During the prayer breakfast, speakers offered prayers for social justice, children and world peace.
    Young singers from Statesboro’s Baby Grand Music Studio entertained the attendees and woke them up with an upbeat song about Jesus Christ that got everyone clapping and singing.
    Pearl Brown, the president of the Bulloch County Branch of the NAACP, reiterated Brantley’s call for community participation in her closing remarks.
    “Whenever there is an election, no matter what that election is — especially if it’s in the city of Statesboro or Bulloch County — you need to be voting,” Brown said. “Because the things that happen right here in Statesboro and Bulloch County are going to impact you more than some of the things you’re voting on that’s happening away from Bulloch County.”