Organizers cast spotlight on Sunday unity breakfast

Published 1:53 pm Monday, February 25, 2019

During a press conference Monday, organizers for the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee focused on the Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast, which will feature comments from a number of nationally-recognized figures.

The breakfast will take place Sunday at 7:30 a.m. at Wallace Community College – Selma.

“It’s hard to focus on each of those [40 or 50] events,” said former Alabama Sen. Hank Sanders. “One of those events we want to focus on is the breakfast. This breakfast is just so power packed.”

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Among those scheduled to speak Sunday is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who Sanders said “won the presidency but had it taken from her.”

In a press release, Sanders said Clinton would also be inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame at the National Voting Rights Museum and will be awarded the International Unity Award during the Sunday morning breakfast.

Also slated to speak is U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, who recently launched his 2020 presidential campaign and was lauded by Hank Sanders as “the last man standing” during the 2016 campaign.

Other presidential hopefuls will be on hand to give comments, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Mayor of San Antonio Julian Castro.

According to Hank Sanders, presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, were invited to this year’s event but will be unable to attend.

Organizers have invited former Vice President Joe Biden, himself a possible 2020 Democratic candidate for president, and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey but have not received confirmation that either will be in attendance.

Hank Sanders stated that two more announcements are “in the works” and would be made in the coming days.

Beyond national political figures, many civil rights icons will be present for this year’s unity breakfast, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Dr. Charles Steele, Transformative Justice Coalition President Barbara Arnwine and Martin Luther King, III.

“We’ve never had a breakfast with this many powerful people,” Hank Sanders said.

“I know of no city this size that has drawn people of this magnitude,” said Jubilee founder Faya Rose Toure. “There’s something they can do to uplift Selma. Selma is suffering.”

The days-long celebration begins Thursday and culminates with the Bridge Awards on Sunday evening.

Many of the events scheduled throughout the festival will focus on voting rights, voter registration, voter suppression and similar topics, Hank Sanders said during the press conference.

“The Jubilee doesn’t just deal with the past,” Hank Sanders said. “It also deals with the present in all kinds of ways and it deals with the future.”