NAACP Los Angeles chapter head Leon Jenkins resigns amid Donald Sterling scandal

Leon Jenkins, the president of the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter, has resigned in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal. It had been revealed that Sterling, who asked his mistress not to bring black people to Los Angeles Clippers games with her, was set to receive his second NAACP Lifetime Achievement award from the NAACP’s LA chapter.

The day after Sterling’s racist rant surfaced online, NAACP interim president Lorraine Miller went on Meet The Press to confirm that Sterling would not receive that award, his second in six years. Still, the NAACP in LA was left embarrassed by the situation and Jenkins decided to step down on Thursday.

“Please be advised that the legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency,” Jenkins said when announcing his resignation, reports CNN. He added that he wanted to separate the group from the “negative exposure I have caused.”

The LA chapter was set to give Sterling another award this month. They gave him his first lifetime achievement award in 2009 because Sterling had donated thousands of dollars to the group.

Sterling was banned from all NBA activities for life and fined the maximum $2.5 million after a taped conversation between him and V. Stiviano was posted by TMZ and later Deadspin. An NBC Board of Governors voted Thursday to move quickly on ousting him from the league completely. Since he was banned, celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs have expressed interest in buying the team.

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