NAACP to Honor Former Mayor Bradley

The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP will honor former Mayor Tom Bradley with a lifetime achievement award at its annual awards dinner tonight.

Each year the organization honors several individuals who have provided political and social leadership, said Geraldine R. Washington, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People in Los Angeles.

“Each one has distinguished themselves in some area and they felt the need to give back, to serve,” she said.

Bradley is being honored because of his role in changing the face of politics in Los Angeles, Washington said.

“He opened up City Hall,” she said. “Before Tom Bradley, City Hall was run mostly by male Anglos. [Bradley] brought in women. He brought in African Americans. He brought in a lot of people from the Jewish community,” and other minorities.

Other honorees will be Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke; Norma Foster, a producer, director and writer; Dr. Arthur I. Johnson, chief of staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Henry Pumell, a volunteer with the Los Angeles NAACP; and Carlton Jenkins, president and CEO of Founders National Bank.

The Roy Wilkins Economic Freedom Fund Dinner will be held at 6 p.m. at the Regal Biltmore Hotel, 506 S. Grand Ave.