Statesville’s Annual MLK Prayer Breakfast

By JAMES “SABOOR” HAMMONS

STATESVILLE, NC – January 15, 2018 was a very cold morning; I was really not sure about getting up early especially to attend a prayer breakfast. I have engaged in one way or another the MLK observances from the beginning, but my interests had begun to wane, but this gathering was good for me.

I arrived at the Civic Center at 7am, had to park out back and walk more than a block. Things were not looking good. Once inside it took a couple of minutes to compose myself, but upon entering the Central Area I was totally surprised. It was a filled-to-capacity crowd – and a hum in the air. I quickly realized that this was more than an MLK celebration; this was a response out of recognition and anticipation.

As an old activist, I have been to and part of many gatherings with some of them more special than others and I had experienced that hum before. As I moved through the Civic Center greeting people, I was pleased to observe a balance in age groups. This wasn’t a gathering of the gray panthers today, I repeat; this was a response out of recognition and anticipation of people prepared to meet what challenges arise.

Then comes that awaited moment, the featured speaker. With a backdrop of African Americans on one hand and government officials with significant support on the other, there was truly a diverse audience. This year there wouldn’t be a speaker coming from out of town to tell us how to fix our ills and leave, this speaker would come from among us. This speaker would be a local pastor and the president of the Statesville Chapter of the NAACP, this speaker would be Rev. Reginald Keitt.

Being a minister, Rev. Keitt used scripture to support his theme, “Remaining Awake through the Great Revolution Again.” His message moved from slave conditions to the resourcefulness of African Americans to deal with it, to a recognition that troubles were once again on the horizon.

Delving into past slave conditions, Rev. Keitt emphasizes survivability of African American people expressing how they took the spoils from White America and made it into survival tools. Both food and language were refashioned to serve the slaves needs. He admonished the people to prepare for trouble ahead, saying it would get worse before it gets better.

Rev. Keitt then asked the question, “What do you do when faced with evil in high places? And his answer was, “Be sober, intoxication dulls the senses: the intoxication of fear, hate, position or privilege.” He continued saying, “The danger of intoxication is that it wears off.”

Rev. Keitt closed saying, “Be vigilant - involve yourself, do something; Resist - resistance gives you self- respect; Stewardship – stewardship is what you do with what you have that does not belong to you; and Steadfast – you never get so affluent that others suffering does not affect you.”

Strong and thorough, he admonished the audience to sober preparation and response. If anyone had any questions as to whether Statesville had an NAACP president, I do believe those concerns were laid to rest. Rev. Keitt announced himself to the entire community Monday. Well done Sir!