Questioning Chavis Muhammad

Christian Century, June 4, 1997 by Linda A. Mercadante

The board of directors of the Eastern North Carolina Association must approve the committee's action at its October meeting. Conceivably, Chavis Muhammad could make an-other appeal at that time.

Chavis Muhammad was ordained by the UCC in 1980 and was executive director of its Commission for Racial Justice for eight years. In 1971 while working for the commission, he was arrested and convicted with nine others--soon dubbed the Wilmington Ten--of arson and conspiracy to assault emergency personnel in Wilmington, North Carolina. He received a 34-year sentence, the longest of the ten. The UCC struggled for his release, which occurred in December 1979. The convictions were overturned and the ten were cleared of all charges. Chavis served as NAACP director for 18 months, in 1993 and 1994, but was fired by the board of directors after it was learned he committed $332,000 in NAACP funds to settle a sexual harassment and discrimination claim against him. Subsequently he worked with Farrakhan to organize the Million Man March.

Linda A. Mercadante is professor of theology at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio in Delaware, Ohio.