Selma Chapter of The Links honors Dr. King, honors Citizen of the Year at annual breakfast

A large crowd that included local community leaders gathered for the 32^nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast at Wallace Community College on the morning of MLK Day.  

The event was sponsored by the Selma Chapter of The Links, Inc.  

Dr. Patricia Robinson, president of the Selma Chapter of Links, introduced the keynote speaker, Vanessa Falls. Falls is a former guidance counselor at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Upon retiring from the world of education, she became the executive vice president of her family business, Falls Facility Services Inc. 

Robinson also said that Falls served as President of the Birmingham Chapter of Links Inc. for three consecutive terms and has served on many committees and headed up many programs for Links, Inc. 

Falls said the Unity Breakfast “is the anticipated and unofficial humanitarian rally for families, organizations and churches as they prepare to serve communities in various ways.”  

“Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, ‘To everything there is a season and a time and every purpose under the Heaven.’” Falls said. “I propose to you that this is our season.” She told the crowd that as long as they keep fighting, “the light” that ancestors and heroes like Dr. King and John Lewis instilled will always burn bright. 

Falls said that “together we are an unstoppable force” and reminded attendees that the “path to equality is paved with our collective efforts.” She challenged the audience to “carry the legacy of those who fought before us” and to let their sacrifice “fill our resolve.” 

“It’s time to roll up our sleeves to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged,” Falls said. “The world needs an organization like ours (Links Inc.) now more than ever” because of an “attack on women’s rights in the area of reproductive choice, sexual harassment at work, unequal pay, domestic violence and women’s health.” 

Falls said the women of Links Inc. are needed because “our children and our children’s children today have less rights than we did.” 

“They have gutted affirmative action. They have slashed DEI programs. We no longer have the use of policies and legislation and procedures to improve the educational and employment opportunities,” Falls said. 

More from this section

Ecopetrol informs on decision by Colombia's General Prosecutor's Office

Pollution fears in Loch Ness after thieves sink 1930s yacht

Forget the World Cup, These 5 Sporting Events Offer Something Wilder And More Offbeat

Falls spoke on the good done by the Black K.A.R.E. (Kidney Awareness Resource Education) program. Black K.A.R.E. is one of the health services of Links Inc. Falls said her son has Stage 5 kidney disease, so she knows the importance of this initiative. 

Falls commended the Selma Links chapter for over 30 years of service to the community.  

She said that the women of Links must embrace the challenges of the future, rise above them and “embrace them as opportunities for growth.”  

“The world needs us. Our communities need us. The future depends on us,” Falls said.   

Selma Links Vice President Ronita Wade presented the Citizen of the Year Award to Patricia Farrior. Farrior is a graduate of Keith High School and has a degree from Alabama A&M and a master’s degree from Concordia University in Portland, Oregon.  

Farrior returned to Selma to work at Selma High, where she has serves students as a teacher and mentor through many different youth organizations. She said that at a young age her mother taught “the importance and joy that comes from helping others.”  

“It is a passion of mine to serve our children as I can,” Farrior said.  

Probate Judge and Dallas County Commission Chairman Jimmy Nunn thanked Links for their work in Dallas County. Sen. Robert Stewart told the crowd that the Black community “has not made the gains we should have made economically. In incarceration rates and employment, we still have a long way to go.” 

The Links, Inc. is an international, not-for-profit corporation established in 1946. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other people of African ancestry.