The Carroll County NAACP hopes to share the dream that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated four decades ago.
At Saturday's annual breakfast honoring the civil rights leader, organizers are seeking to inspire young people. The local NAACP chapter has invited former Carroll County Commissioner Perry L. Jones Jr. as its honored guest and Maryland District Court Judge Angela M. Eaves as the featured speaker.
"We try to educate them as to some of the struggles that we have gone through and enlighten them as to keeping a positive attitude, staying in school, getting good grades [and] taking advantage of the opportunities that come before them," said Bernard Jones, program chairman for activities.
County students will participate in two presentations, Jones said.
In one, the audience will be shown a slideshow presentation about the students and will be given descriptions of their future aspirations. In the other, the students will talk about African-American inventors.
Eaves, an associate judge in Harford County District Court, said that young people "don't always see the relevance in those that are long gone."
"I hope to hold myself up as a role model for them and point out other role models that they may not be aware of [but] that have done so much for them," she said. "I think today's generation can be a little apathetic and also a little bit depressed about their future. "I want them to see how much there is out there for them, to look first at their own communities and also to look beyond their own communities to see how much people ... want to help them and how much they can do for other people."
The county National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has organized the breakfast since 2004.
The Former Students and Friends of Robert Moton School Inc. started the event nearly 20 years ago to honor King and to raise scholarship funds for minority students. The group is an alumni organization for the former 12-grade school in Westminster for black students.
Breakfast tickets must be ordered by Tuesday and are $25 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Martin's Westminster in the 140 Village Shopping Center.
Information: 410-876-7759.