Jul 11 2008
Honoring Benjamin Jealous
On Sunday, June 29th politicians and black leaders from all over Southern California came out to welcome 35-year-old Benjamin T. Jealous. The City of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, President of the Los Angeles City Council, Councilman Bernard Parks and Ron S. Hasson of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP organized a reception welcoming the new President and CEO of the NAACP.
Dozens of black leaders filled the reception room at The Annex in the Hollywood and Highland Center waiting for Jealous to appear.
Jelaous was informed in May of his new role with the NAACP. ““I was so pleased to hear the news that the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People elected Ben Jealous as the next President and CEO,” said Garcetti.
Garcetti and Jealous both attended and worked together at Columbia University. During the reception Garcetti shared a couple of stories of Jealous’s activism and leadership roles at the university. The two have been friends for close to almost years.
During the reception Jealous expressed his happiness in being in Los Angeles. The young ceo expressed his goals with the audience members that attended the reception. “We have a generation that is going from school to prison at a faster pace and a higher rate then we have ever seen. To wonder what to expect from me and my administration of the NAACP I make you one guarantee we will focus every energy we have just like our predecessors did on lynching, on ending Jim Crow, on dismantling that school to purple pipeline. So that the ACT-SO kids aren’t the exception they’re the rule,” said Jealous.
Local leaders and politicians that attended the reception included: Blair H. Taylor (L.A. Urban League), Charisse Bremond (Brotherhood Crusade), Dennis P. Zine (District 3), Wendy Gruel (District 2), Najee Ali (Project H.O.P.E.), and many others. A number of presidents from local NAACP branches also attended the welcoming.
Jealous received the President’s Award at the 18th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards the following night at the Kodak Theatre.
