A sold-out crowd attended the New Frontier Democratic Club’s Annual Awards Dinner on Friday, October 27, at the Proud Bird Restaurant.
Actor and producer Richard Lawson served as master of ceremonies and U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Lee and State Controller Malia Cohen shared remarks with the audience comprised of Los Angeles elected officials and community activists.
Danny J. Bakewell, Jr., executive editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel, accepted the award recognizing the newspaper’s 90th anniversary and decades of outstanding community service. The L.A. Sentinel and Bakewell Media just sponsored the 18th Annual Taste of Soul Family Festival, which is the largest free African American-produced event in the nation.
Ambassador Michael A. Lawson, president/CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League, was also honored for the organization’s outstanding community service in reestablishing the State of
Black Los Angeles Report, advocating to increase the number of African Americans in
local government jobs and providing employment opportunities with local businesses. Under Lawson’s leadership, the L.A. Urban League has raised millions of dollars for its annual budget to sustain its operations.
Edward Johnson received the Dr. Owen Knox Man of the Year Award. A veteran political operative, Johnson served as an aide to former Congressmen George Brown, Congressman Julian Dixon, State Senator Kevin Murray, and Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson.
Kamilah Moore, Esq., was presented with the Gwen Green Woman of the Year Award. Moore, a graduate of Columbia Law School and the University of Amsterdam, is the communications director for New Frontier Democratic Club and former chair of the California Reparations Task Force.
Music was provided by Elaine Gibbs and Nu Soul Band. Special guests included Congresswoman Maxine Waters, State Senator Steven Bradford, State Senator Lola Smallwood Cuevas, Honorable Chris Holden, Compton Mayor Emma Sharif, and Yvonne Wheeler, president of the L.A. County Federation of Labor.
Dr. Michael Davis, president of New Frontier Democratic Club; Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, and Emerson B. Luke, Esq., NFDC first vice president, were the award presenters.
New Frontier Democratic Club supports the work of the California Reparations Task Force and believes reparations are for those American descendents of slavery.
“Given the solutions implemented for our Native American, Jewish American and Japanese American brother and sisters, our time has come,” said NFDC President Davis.