Brotherhood Crusade steers LA's next generation to see MLK's dream fulfilled

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- LA's Official Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade is just a few days away, and we're highlighting one of the groups helping to make it a reality.

"The Brotherhood set my trajectory off," Nasir Lucas said.

For 58 years, Brotherhood Crusade has been supporting Los Angeles youth through its development programs.

"We'll train them to be elected officials, to be in corporate. We have 60 students with four-year scholarships now, from Morehouse to UC Berkeley to UCLA to Northridge," president Charisse Bremond Weaver said. "All over the country."

The social justice nonprofit focuses on health, education, economic development and life skills.

"We are ensuring that young people have access to the best of the best," Bremond Weaver said. "They're from our community. They look just like me, our young men, our young women. We understand the importance of exposing them, also mentoring them, also holding them accountable."

"If I didn't come here, I would either be dead or in jail," Ernest Strong conceded.

Brotherhood Crusade anchors LA's Official MLK Jr. Day Parade.

"When I think of Dr. King and how young he was, he was in his 20s when he started organizing," Bremond Weaver said.

This year, the nonprofit will help produce the annual celebration, and just like MLK, Brotherhood Crusade continues to inspire the next generation to be great leaders one day.

"God sent Brotherhood Crusade into my life," Adonis Warren said. "I wouldn't be the man who I am today without what they taught me, that development, planting those seeds, getting out there really touching the grassroots."

Strong said the nonprofit's work opened his eyes to what could be.

"Those dreams that we really think about, I really was able to obtain and even now still am obtaining those dreams," Strong said.

"It teaches everyone to strive for greatness," Lucas added. "It puts you in rooms where you have no choice be to strive for greatness, and I love that."

ABC7 will broadcast LA's Official MLK Jr. Day Parade LIVE at 11 a.m. Monday, and you can watch it anywhere you stream.

ElectricforAll.org is a proud sponsor of ABC7's parade broadcast.

LA's Official MLK Day Parade is made possible through the generous support of its partners, including SoCalGas, Airbnb, LA County Federation of Labor, SEIU 2015, Blue Shield of California, Brotherhood Crusade, and others.

Want to stream LA's Official MLK Day Parade on your TV?
Download the ABC7 Los Angeles app for Roku, FireTV, Apple TV or AndroidTV. Just search for ABC7 Los Angeles and download our free app!

For more parade information, visit the LA Sentinel's website.