Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will receive a “person of the year” award at an evening reception on May 15 from a group that had also been set to honor embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
Sterling, who was recorded during a phone conversation making derogatory remarks about blacks, was to receive a lifetime achievement award this year from the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organization nixed the plan after the recording of Sterling surfaced last month.
Sterling’s racist remarks drew widespread condemnation, including from Garcetti, and got him banned for life from the NBA.
The NAACP chapter’s president Leon Jenkins resigned amid criticism that the group had not only intended to recognize Sterling at the May 15 banquet, but had already given him an award much like it in 2009. The group has rescinded the earlier award as well, and the national NAACP has said it is now creating awardee selection guidelines to be used by chapters.
Sterling has given the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP at least $45,000 since 2007 through his foundations, according to the New York Times.
Garcetti will be honored as “person of the year” together with Rev. Al Sharpton at the May 15 gala, which celebrates the Los Angeles chapter’s centennial.
Retired attorney Charles Patton will receive a lifetime achievement award, according to the chapter’s website. Other honorees listed include FedEx executive Shannon Brown and Javier Angulo, director of community affairs at Walmart.
The Gala will be held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel at 506 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles.
