NAACP chapter president resigns amid Donald Sterling controversy

Leon Jenkins cited Donald Sterling's donations to minority charities as one of the reasons for giving him an award. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)

Leon Jenkins, the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, resigned Thursday night, according to the Associated Press, after his organization came under fire for planning to give Clippers owner Donald Sterling an award for promoting civil rights in the area.

Sterling was suspended for life by NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday after his taped racist statements surfaced last weekend. The NAACP rescinded its award on Monday.

The AP reports that, "In a letter to the national leader of the nation's oldest civil rights organization, Jenkins wrote that he resigned 'to separate the Los Angeles NAACP and the NAACP from the negative exposure I have caused.'"

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Jenkins was banned from practicing law in California "for years," according to the AP, because of allegations that include corruption.

The Los Angeles NAACP was scheduled to give Sterling a "lifetime achievement award" on May 15 at its 100th anniversary celebration. The honor was questioned even before Sterling's most recent comments.

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In one infamous case, Sterling was sued for housing discrimination in 2006 over allegations that he refused to rent apartments to black and Hispanic people. He settled the case by paying $2.7 million.

Still, the same chapter of the NAACP honored Sterling with a similar award in 2009.

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