Cleveland NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner held and chapter President Michael Nelson Sr. defends LeBron James' response to racist graffiti on his LA home as hundreds attend the event where actor and author Hill Harper was the keynote speaker and Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was honored for making the Browns franchise one of the most diversified in the country....Some Blacks and community activists opposed the billionaire Haslam, who is White, getting the group's most distinguished Civil Rights award......National NAACP President and CEO Cornell Wiliam Brooks will step down this month following criticism that he was not aggressive enough during a Trump presidency that is harming Black America.... Nelson's resurrection of the Cleveland NAACP follows his support of the controversial Q- Deal and prior infighting between members of the old Cleveland NAACP leadership regime and a decline in membership...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of www.clevelandurbannews.com and www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

American actor, author and intellectual Hill Harper, who played a key acting role on the hit television show CSI: New York for nine seasons, has three ivy league degrees, including a law degree, and who attended Harvard Law School with former president Barack Obama, was the keynote speaker for the Cleveland NAACP's Freedom Fund Dinner held Saturday, June 3, 2017 Cleveland Browns franchise owner Jimmy Haslam speaks at the Cleveland NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner held Saturday, June 3, 2017 at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Cleveland. A White billionaire, Haslam was honored by the Civil Rights organization with the group's most distinguished Civil Rights award, amid opposition from some executive board members, media-types, and Black community members Cleveland NAACP President Michael Nelson Sr at the Freedom Fund Dinner held by the Cleveland NAACP at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Cleveland on June 3, 2017 ...