Benjamin Chavis Muhammad

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Benjamin Chavis Muhammad is an African-American civil rights activist. He was born Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. on January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina, a descendant of educator Rev. John Chavis.

He received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from University of North Carolina; a Master of Divinity, M.Div., magna cum laude, from Duke University; a Doctor of Ministry, D.Min ., from Howard University; and completed course requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, from Union Theological Seminary. Dr Benjamin Chavis began his career in 1965, as a statewide youth coordinator in NC for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Dr. Chavis also worked for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He then returned to Oxford and taught at the all-black Mary Potter High School.

In 1969, Chavis was appointed Southern Regional Program Director of the 1.7 million member United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (UCC-CRJ) and by 1985 was named the Executive Director and CEO of the UCC-CRJ. In 1988, Dr. Chavis was elected Vice President of the National Council of Churches of the USA. Then in 1993, Dr. Chavis achieved what no other before him had achieved. He became the youngest person ever to be the Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1995, as National Director of the Million Man March, Dr. Chavis looked straight in the face of the skeptics, and despite tremendous controversy, pulled off arguably one of the largest, most vocal, most effective gatherings of our time. To accomplish that coup, Chavis drew on many years of experience. No stranger to the civil rights struggle, Benjamin Chavis and nine others in 1978 were officially classified “American political prisoners” by Amnesty International as members of the Wilmington , NC Ten. Although Chavis and his teenage codefendants were unjustly imprisoned in NC for most of the 1970's because of their challenge to racial segregation in the Wilmington public school system, the Wilmington Ten emerged victorious after nearly a ten-year international political and legal battle when the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals overturned their convictions and cleared their names. While in prison, Dr Chavis authored two books: An American Political Prisoner Appeals for Human Rights and Psalms from Prison. Because of Dr. Chavis' scientific background, in 1981, he was the first person to coin the term environmental racism: “Racial discrimination in the deliberated targeting of ethnic and minority communities for exposure to toxic and hazardous waste sites and facilities, coupled with the systematic exclusion of minorities in environmental policy making, enforcement, and remediation.” To prove the validity of his definition, Chavis in 1986 conducted and published the landmark national study: Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America, that statistically revealed the direct correlation between race and the location of toxic waste throughout the United States. Benjamin Chavis is considered by many environmental grassroots activists to be the “father of the post-modern environmental justice movement” that has steadily grown throughout the nation and world since the early 1980's. Along the way, Dr. Chavis evolved into a serious journalist and commentator through his nationally syndicated newspaper column and radio program, Civil Rights Journal from 1985 to 1993. On the career track, Chavis became Executive Director and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS) from 1995 to 1997, and was then appointed East Coast Regional Minister of the Nation of Islam and Minister of the historic Mosque Number Seven in Harlem , New York . Subsequently, he was also named as Special Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, a position he still maintains today. The journey into the Hip-Hop culture actually had its roots for Chavis dating back to 1969 when he was the proprietor and regular “DJ” and “MC” for The Soul Kitchen Disco in his hometown of Oxford, NC. In the 1970's, Chavis envisioned that there was a direct connection between the urban underground music and the post-civil rights era. During the 1980's, Chavis witnessed the growing popularity of hip-hop with disenfranchised youth entrapped into urban poverty. While serving as a mentor to Sister Souljah, Kevin Powell, Little Rob, Ras Baraka and other hip-hop activists, Chavis met Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen in 1986 at Def Jam Records. As head of the NAACP in 1993, he worked with Run DMC to mobilize youth voters. Thus, it made perfect sense when hip-hop's premier video director, Hype Williams, cast Chavis in the pivotal role as the “Minister” in the 1998 hip-hop classic movie “BELLY,” which starred superstar hip-hop artists Nas , Method Man and DMX. More recently Dr. Ben performed the Intro and Outro to Jim Jones and the Diplomats 2004 hip-hop album, “On My Way to Church.” In 2005, Dr Ben was the spoken word artist feature in Cassidy's latest platinum selling album ”I'm A Hustler.” When Dr. Chavis organized both the Million Man and Million Family Marches in 1995 and 2000 respectively, Russell Simmons worked with him to mobilize hip-hop leaders to support the marches. Ultimately, the two men realized they had a similar vision for this generation of hip-hop youth, and to that end, they created the first national Hip-Hop Summit in New York City, from which grew the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN). One-and-a-half years later, the HSAN is the largest and broadest national coalition of hip-hop artists, recording industry executives, youth activists and civil rights leaders. With the support of the major hip-hop labels, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and others, the HSAN has sponsored successful Hip-Hop Summits in New York , Kansas City, Oakland , Los Angeles , Washington , DC, Miami , Seattle and Dallas . But HSAN does not stop there: meetings with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), vocal stands before the U.S. Congress on the unconstitutionality of censoring rap lyrics, the development of literacy programs, Youth Councils, voter registration drives in conjunction with Rap The Vote, the voice for the poor, and the fight for children's public education, fill Chavis' days (and nights). Dr. Chavis and the HSAN joined the United Federation of Teachers and the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) to organize the largest public demonstration since New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office. The Washington Post reported, “Hip-hop's brightest stars, from P. Diddy to Jay-Z to Alicia Keys, lent a little star power today to a demonstration by roughly 100,000 students, teachers and rap fans who crammed eight blocks outside City Hall to protest drastic school budget cuts proposed by the new mayor.” Recently, Chavis joined “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon, actor Bruce Willis and Russell Simmons to demand adequate funding for education across the state of New York . Dr Chavis is married to Martha Rivera Chavis and the father of eight children. The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network has benefited greatly from the leadership of Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. And the feeling is mutual: “The hip-hop generation is the most talented and socially conscious generation of youth that has ever emerged on the world stage to demand respect and justice for all,” he said.

He worked to desegregate the public school system in Wilmington, North Carolina where he was arrested on conspiracy and arson charges.[citation needed] Chavis spent nearly a decade in prison, receiving international attention, until the charges were overturned in 1980.[citation needed]

Chavis became a leader in the civil rights community, rising to become Executive Director and CEO of the NAACP. Eighteen months after he became Executive Director and CEO, the NAACP Board of Directors ousted Chavis, accusing him of using NAACP funds for an out-of-court settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit.[1]

He was an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and in that capacity he was head of the UCC's Commission on Racial Justice.[citation needed] Chavis was also one of the organizers of the Million Man March in 1995.[citation needed]

In 1997, Chavis joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Benjamin Chavis Muhammad. He tried to keep his UCC credentials but was defrocked for converting to another religion.[citation needed] Chavis Muhammad is currently the CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. He also is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc as well as an active leader in the African American community.[citation needed]

He appeared as the "Minister" in Hype Williams' 1998 movie "Belly".

He appeared in skits on Jim Jones' debut album "On my way to Church"

He has been quoted on "Ringing Bells", a track from Masta Killa's album No Said Date.

He also appeared on a track called "The Message" on Cassidy's I'm A Hustla.

He appeared in Spike Lee's film about the Million March, Get on the Bus.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "That Was Then This is Now", The Washington Post, December 18, 1994 by Lynne Duke http://www.ex-iwp.org/docs/1994/naacp_94.htm

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