Civil rights leaders gather at the Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast in Selma
Sunday morning started off with one of the most anticipated events of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee weekend – The Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast. The annual breakfast is a highlight for many people during the Jubilee, and it features national and international leaders as speakers. The 2024 Martin & Coretta King Unity Award winners were recognized as well.
The breakfast honors the Kings’ civil rights legacy, and also challenges people to join the effort to realize Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community. It took place at Wallace Community College, and President James Mitchell says, “It is one of the most important things that we can do as citizens as this country – I tell people if you don’t vote, you don’t you have no voice. We got to make sure our voice is heard, and that’s how our voice is heard is through our vote. There is an old saying that we were saying in 2020, ‘Vote like your life depends on it’ because guess what it does.”
Former Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders said, “The bridge crossing Jubilee is the largest annual gathering of people dealing with the vote and democracy in the whole United States, and people come from all over the world South America, Central America, and Europe and Asia.” SCLC leader Hosea Williams was posthumously awarded the 2024 Martin & Coretta King Leadership Award. His daughter, civil activist and actress Elisabeth Omilami, accepted the award on her father’s behalf.
