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INSIDE NRA | PROGRAMS & SERVICES
Otis W. McDonald Honored as First Recipient
of the NRA Roy Innis Liberty Award
O
tis W. McDonald, a champion of the U.S. Constitution,
was posthumously named as the first recipient of the
NRA Roy Innis Liberty Award during the recent NRA
Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Indianapolis. McDonald’s
family received the award, which was presented by Niger
Innis, the son of Roy Innis, a longtime member of the NRA
Board of Directors and former chairman of the Congress of
Racial Equality (CORE).
“We owe a debt of gratitude to Otis W. McDonald for
his courage, his commitment and his sacrifice to take a
stand and be steadfast in his belief in the United States
Constitution,” said Lt.Col.
Allen West, NRA Director
and vice chairman of the NRA
Outreach Committee.
McDonald’s heroic efforts
to restore Second Amendment
rights of Chicago citizens
following a generation of
restriction and denial by
the city culminated with the
landmark U.S. Supreme Court
decision in McDonald v. the
City of Chicago.
The Supreme Court held
that the Second Amendment applies to the states and local
governments through the 14th Amendment, and that it
extended to the whole nation. The ruling ended Chicago’s
nearly three-decade handgun ban and forced the city to allow
citizens to keep firearms in their homes for self-defense.
Receiving the award was McDonald’s wife, Laura Lee
McDonald, daughters Chandra McDonald and Sheila
McDonald-Jordon, and granddaughter Lauren Jordon.
“On behalf of my father, Otis McDonald, we thank you. It
has been an honor to come here. Thank you for supporting
him during his journey while he was here on this earth and
thank you for continuing to support him and our family. Excuse
the tears, but I feel my father’s presence so strong in here,”
Sheila said.
A framed resolution passed by the NRA Board of Directors
memorializing Otis McDonald was presented to the family by
NRA Secretary John Frazer.“[Roy Innis] was a never-ending
defender of the Bill of Rights, all of
it, and of the Second Amendment,"
said NRA Executive Vice President
Wayne LaPierre."And because of
that, because he didn’t bend to
what the media wanted him to bend
to, or bend to what the politically
correct, elite people wanted him
to bend to, he faced some of the
harshest criticism I’ve ever seen.
With all the backstabbing and the
name calling, Roy never lost his
sense of humor.”
LaPierre declared Innis was a true American hero, as a
civil-rights advocate marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, and
serving as chairman of CORE, leading that organization to fight
for the equal opportunity of all Americans regardless of race.
He also saluted the civil-rights leader’s service as longtime
chairman and chairman emeritus of the NRA Urban Affairs
Committee, now the NRA Outreach Committee.
After Innis’ death in 2017, the Outreach Committee
agreed an award should be named after Roy Innis in honor
of his indomitable spirit to defend the Bill of Rights and the
Second Amendment.
Taking the stage, Outreach Committee Chairman Willes
K. Lee spoke to Innis’ character. “Folks, if you want to
understand the honor, the tenacity, the commitment, and the
courage of Roy Innis, look up ‘Buffalo Soldier’. Roy embodied
the indomitable, unconquerable spirit of a ‘Buffalo Soldier’.”
Lee explained the award criteria must require a nominee
to have a proven track record of raising awareness of and
participating in supporting Second Amendment rights
among under-represented populations—minorities, women
and disabled NRA members. He noted the nominee must
have a proven record of coming to the aid and defense of
those facing persecution or prosecution for the legal and
appropriate use of their Second Amendment rights in the
United States. The recipient must be living, except under
extraordinary circumstances. Both the committee and
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre agreed that
Mr. McDonald deserved the award posthumously.Gathered for the inaugural presentation of the NRA Roy Innis Liberty Award
posthumously to Otis W. McDonald were (l. to r.): NRA Director Allen B. West, Lauren
Jordon, Sheila McDonald-Jordon, NRA Director Willes K. Lee, NRA Executive Vice
President Wayne LaPierre, Laura Lee McDonald, Niger Innis, and Chandra McDonald.Clockwise from top left: Photos by Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images; Peter FountainOtis W. McDonaldRoy Innis