Reidsville MLK Unity Breakfast highlights local leaders, youth awards and keynote on economic justice

The Reidsville Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast brought community leaders, students and nonprofit partners together to remember Dr. King’s legacy of service and to present community awards and scholarships.

Diane Sawyer (Speaker 13) emceed the event, the Reidsville Police and Fire Departments honor guard presented the pledge, and Reverend Marcus Fairley delivered the invocation. Mayor Donnelell (Don) Neville Hall offered city greetings and encouraged residents to make 2026 a year of service.

Dr. Kenneth N. Moore, introduced as a Rockingham County native and long-serving pastor and community leader, delivered the keynote. Moore connected King’s message to contemporary concerns about poverty and economic policy, urging attendees not to reduce the holiday to a feel-good observance but to focus on structural problems. "The speech was not about dreams. The speech was about broken promises," the keynote emphasized, tracing the holiday’s contested history and calling for action on economic justice and a renewed moral witness.

The program recognized multiple community leaders: Dr. Eunique Hale received the Reverend Eddie C. Hughes Memorial Award for community service; Reverend Dr. Clarence Johnson was presented the James Arthur Griggs civil-rights award; and youth awards honored students Alina Amos and Deontay Neal for academic and athletic leadership. Organizers also noted more than $30,000 in Unity Fund scholarships awarded to Rockingham Community College students over the past two decades.

The breakfast concluded with a unity song and closing reflections urging continued local commitment to justice and service.