Today, NAACP announced the recipient of its first-ever Dorothy Parker Ally Award, recognizing musical group Moonchild. The prestigious award is named after legendary twentieth-century author, poet, and screenwriter, who is also known for her activism and ongoing support for humanitarian causes. The NAACP Dorothy Parker ally Award is presented to individuals or entities that consistently demonstrate a commitment to exploring mutual interests and activating initiatives that produce measurable results to the benefit of disadvantaged and marginalized communities.

Moonchild is an American alternative R&B band based in Los Angeles, CA. The band has released five albums and supported multiple world tours.  Their most recent album, Starfruit, is nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album, at the 65th GRAMMY Awards, in 2023.

Band members Amber Navran, Max Bryk, and Andris Mattson received the NAACP Dorothy Parker Ally Award in recognition of their consistent call for support to benefit the Black and Brown communities. The band is well known for utilizing their platform and suspending their performances mid-show to address cross-cultural disparities faced by people of color. They were presented the award preceding a sold-out concert at 'The Social' in Orlando.

Kyle Bowser, Senior Vice president of NAACP Hollywood Bureau, was on site to present the award. “Dorothy Parker was a prolific writer whose credits include The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the original screenplay, A Star is Born, among others.  Her impressive professional achievements were matched by a lifelong commitment to advancing social justice causes, including anti-Nazism, anti-fascism, feminism, and support for the labor movement,” said Bowser.  He continued, “Dorothy’s activism provoked concerns that she might be a communist supporter, which led to her being blackballed in Hollywood.  Dorothy’s ardent support for the Civil Rights Movement was epitomized in 1967 by her dying grant of her estate to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – a man she had never met.”  King’s assassination one year later triggered Parker’s further declaration that her estate be passed to the NAACP.

The NAACP Youth & College Florida State Conference President, Colin Phillip Mitchell, also spoke to the Moonchild audience, encouraging support for progressive causes.  The eighteen-year-old called for a reversal of anti-abortion legislation and rescinding newly established book-banning policies in the state.