Parish NAACP president: Take advantage of rights King gained

The African-American community needs to take advantage of the rights that Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard to gain, St. Mary NAACP President Reginald Weary said Monday.
The St. Mary NAACP hosted its annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Program Tribute at New Zora Baptist Church in Morgan City.
“Dr. King fought and fought, and died for us to have the rights that we have now,” Weary said. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the foundation for all minority rights, Weary said. As civil rights become more of a pressing need today, King’s work is benefiting white females, African-Americans and Hispanics, Weary said.
Though everyone over age 18 can vote now, and those who have finished their probationary period after being convicted of felony can also vote, people are not taking advantage of their rights to vote, Weary said. “If we don’t succeed in life, we can’t continue to blame the white man. It’s on us. It’s our life. It’s our future. This is what our forefathers ... died for.”
The harder people work when they are young, the easier time they will have later in life, Weary said. However, one can always change, and it is never too late to change as long as God is in the picture, Weary said.
“A young man told me the other day that Dr. King is probably turning over in his grave at the regression in our community,” Weary said.
In 2014, the Voting Rights Act of 1964 was amended so that people are losing some of their rights due to not voting and not taking advantage of the opportunities available to them, Weary said. The St. Mary NAACP continues to try to live up to the organization’s mission of fighting for civil rights, he said. King was the focal point of civil rights for many years. “We just wanted to give him the tribute that was deserved,” Weary said.
The parish had four Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations Monday including ones in Morgan City, Patterson, Franklin and Baldwin. “You can’t give a man with that much credentials too much praise,” Weary said. Weary would eventually like to start a parish-wide event where everyone could come together to honor King, he said.
Weary decided last year that he wanted to let young people take over putting on the chapter’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day program this year, he said. The older generation laid the foundation for the younger generation to “take the reins,” Weary said.
Jaylon Grogan, 19, a minister in training at Good Hope Baptist Church in Patterson, was the guest speaker for Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day program in Patterson. Grogan preached on the benefits of wearing “the armor of God.”
In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church of Ephesus. “He is speaking to the Church of Ephesus from prison, but yet we as a church claim to be Christians, are free people, and we can’t even go in the store and tell somebody Jesus lives,” Grogan said.
The community today falls short because members do not spread the word of God and edify one another, Grogan said. The community is in a spiritual battle where people should be building up one another up instead of tearing one another down, Grogan said.
The armor Paul describes will protect today’s community, Grogan said. The belt of truth is one of the aspects of the armor, which makes sure people uphold truth, Grogan said. The breastplate of righteousness covers and protects the heart, he said. People also need the gospel of peace, Grogan said. The shield of faith is needed to quench all fiery thoughts, he said. “I can’t go off of what I see, but I have to go off what I believe,” Grogan said.
Paul talks about having a helmet of salvation, which causes a person to be constantly thinking on the how to share the salvation through Christ with others, Grogan said. “There’s a problem with that because nobody wants the mind of Christ,” Grogan said. The mind of Christ thought like a servant and was humble, he said. Having the mind of Christ humiliates people and causes them to look bad, Grogan said.
The last piece of armor is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and has the power to build up or break down, Grogan said. Grogan urged people “to be covered in everything” that will keep God close to them because God will take care of them, he said.