PUEBLO, Colo. – Almost 54 years after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death, his words and convictions ring truer than ever, and still resonate with people across the globe.

King advocated for unity and social change, and following his death, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change hosts educational and community programs to empower people to create a just, humane, equitable and peaceful world.

King’s niece, Alveda King, says that fostering unity is still something that’s critically important.

“My uncle ML, many of his words still resonate today because they’re rooted in the truth that he learned himself from God during his ministry,” King said. “One of my favorite quotes is, ‘I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too difficult a burden to bear.’ And so, if we can love each other and be kind to each other, that really is a timeless message.”

King was on hand recently to speak to the young women of Grit & Grace, a foundation founded by news anchor and stock contractor Fanchon Stinger.

During the 2022 season, Stinger, who is the part-owner of bovines Stinger and Lil Hott, will appear at 10 PBR Unleash The Beast events, hosting middle and high school-age girls for lessons on personal growth through leadership, integrity and animal care.

Grit & Grace will also provide mentorship programs and scholarship opportunities for the young women. It is the first community-focused organization to have an official alignment with PBR.

“The PBR is very exciting, and I approach it with great anticipation,” King said. “Several years ago now, I had a situation where I called someone a bull in a china shop. And the spirit of God spoke to me and said, ‘Bulls are beautiful and magnificent creations.’ And I thought about it, and it changed my perspective completely.”

King has embraced Western sports since she was a state representative for the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1979-83. Black cowboys came and rode horses, marching along with her, and she says that all of her children and grandchildren know how to ride horses.

“Now, we’ve not tried a bull, and I promise you, at my age of 70-plus, I probably never will,” she said, laughing. “But I believe that this is a concept that is unifying people, and if it’s unifying, if it’s positive, then it brings good.”

The legacy of the Black cowboy will be on full display in Denver on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at 6 p.m. MT at the MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo of Champions. It is one of the annual stops of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, the longest-running all-Black rodeo.

But regardless of skin color, King says that Western sports are unifying.

“People from every community, regardless of skin color or age or various aspects of human living, can come together and just get together and enjoy, and I think that’s very important,” King said. “And that’s why it was so easy for me to embrace the PBR.”

Through Grit & Grace, Stinger will promote the fundamental principles of family, faith and freedom, joined by female mentors at PBR events to share their personal stories while discussing goal setting, developing one’s gifts and talents, honoring others, and nurturing boldness, confidence and integrity.

She sees PBR as an “untapped gem” for bringing people together.

“I’m watching America lose touch with our core values and become more polarized,” Stinger said. “We are losing sight of what makes us a great nation. At the same time, I’ve grown to love a sport that I sincerely believe can be an antidote to the division and discord I see and report on every day. PBR is a big, unified, traveling family, which lives by and promotes important values. People are very thirsty for quenching their desire for family, faith and freedom, and Western sports, which is so connected to animals who are loved, can sate that thirst. I’ve also recognized that young women need a comfortable place to go for safe, family fun. I see PBR as that place.”

King cites work ethic, kindness and communication as values that need to be developed, and hopes that Grit & Grace and the PBR can make that happen for the next generation.

“These are concepts that the girls will need as they approach womanhood. So it’s very important, what’s being done with Grit & Grace,” King said. “My favorite example is Proverbs 31, ‘A woman’s strength and honor are her clothing.’ So I believe in a little grit and grace as well.”