NAACP’s FedEx and Wal-Mart Gifts Followed Discrimination Claims
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People moved quickly in April to cancel plans to bestow a lifetime achievement award on Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and a longtime NAACP contributor, who was caught on tape scolding a female friend for posting online photos with black friends.
Many people were surprised to learn the civil rights organization ever meant to praise a man with a history of discriminating against blacks. They shouldn’t have been. In 2009 the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter honored Sterling with its President’s Award, shortly before he agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle federal civil charges that he unfairly treated blacks and Hispanics at L.A. apartment buildings he owns.