WRAL-TV’s Crabtree Challenges Crowd to Take a Stand at 39th Annual MLK Prayer Breakfast

“This is a breakfast of love.”
– William Lucas, Senior Pastor, First Chronicles Community Church, Durham

The ballroom at the Sheraton Imperial in RTP filled to overflowing with attendees of the 39^th Annual Martin Luther King Triangle Interfaith Prayer Breakfast on Monday, January 21, 2019. Capitol Broadcasting Company served as the presenting sponsor for the 33^rd year, and WRAL-TV Anchor Gerald Owens emceed while WRAL-TV Anchor David Crabtree delivered the keynote address.

Dr. Dumas Harshaw, Jr, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Raleigh, opened the event, challenging the crowd, saying, “How will you take a stand and serve every day, not just MLK day?” #MLKdestiny

The Triangle Martin Luther King Jr. Committee presented the first King Leader Award to Dolores Bailey, Executive of EmPOWERment in Chapel Hill and one of the United Way of the Greater Triangle’s 10 to Watch leaders.

During the program a variety of area religious leaders delivered a variety of prayers, and videoed remarks from the Mayors of Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill were shared.

“In a time so many know how to divide … today we come together to show how to be one.”
– Imam Mohamed AbuTaleb, Islamic Association of Raleigh

Two young people got the crowd on their feet for ovations. Wakefield High School senior Scyler Snowden spoke of “dreaming in color” in a Special Youth Moment in the first segment of the program.

She spoke of her life in the current times.

“There is no back of the bus for me, unless that is the seat I choose,” said Snowden, as she referenced the many changes in our country and society since the days of Martin Luther King.

“It’s time to go beyond Dr. King and the civil rights movement and start dreaming in color, working for the equity of all people,” she urged. “I challenge you to educate yourself on the real history of this country. If you’re in a position of power we need you to diversify your decision makers.”

She concluded as the crowd leapt to its collective feet, “All of us have an obligation to not have Dr. King’s legacy stop at where it is today.”

“We still have capacity to love and unify.”
– William Lucas, Senior Pastor, First Chronicles Community Church, Durham

Kelontae Gavin, 19-year-old national recording from Charleston, NC, got the crowd energized with his enthusiastic rendition of “No Ordinary Worship”.

James White, Executive Vice President Organizational Relations of YMCA of the Triangle introduced WRAL-TV Anchor David Crabtree as the keynote speaker.

He described Crabtree as “a change agent who is multi-dimensional.”

Inspired by those who took the podium earlier in the breakfast, particularly Snowden and Gavin, Crabtree told the crowd, “I’m going to talk to you from my heart.”

He remarked that he is “the first white male to ever deliver address. I confess I’m intimidated, overwhelmed and so deeply honored.”

Crabtree went on to speak of how “words matter.”

“At 69, I’ve learned life it about taking a stand and having the courage to take a stand,” he told the crowd.

And then he shared a story from a time when he was 13 years old, visiting his grandfather in Alabama. Crabtree dared ask a question when older men were speaking ill of Dr. King, the civil rights movement and Robert Kennedy. The men met Crabtree’s question with derision, and later his grandfather apologized for not standing up for him.

Martin Luther King Breakfast — Dr. Dumas Harshaw, Jr, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Raleigh, welcomes attendees to the 39th Annual Martin Luther King Triangle Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by Capitol Broadcasting, at the Sheraton Imperial on Monday, January 21, 2019.

Then Crabtree went on to discuss three topics on which he has made a stand and three faces that have impacted him: Ernest, a man executed on death row; Judy, a homeless woman; and Emmett Bailey, an 83-year-old veteran of WWII who wanted war to end.

“What more could we have done? What more can we do?” Crabtree asked about the atrocities in the Poland death camps.

Then he shared the words of his late friend, Morris Glass, who was in the ghetto of Warsaw at age 13. “You can forgive the unforgiveable or you can let it eat you alive for the rest of your life.”

Crabtree stated that he does not have solutions to these problems, but as a solution he charged the crowd, “Don’t be afraid to take a stand. Be courageous. Take a stand. Plant the seeds of goodness whether or not you know if they will take root.”

He concluded, “No one knows what will happen if you take a stand but we all know what will happen if you don’t.”

WATCH

WRAL-TV aired the majority of the MLK Triangle Interfaith Breakfast live from 8:00-9:00am on WRAL-TV, and live-streamed the program in its entirety on WRAL.com. The program also aired on FOX 50 at noon.

OTHER LINKS

SLIDESHOW: 39th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Triangle Interfaith Prayer Breakfast