Naacp Executive

As Van Evers squeezed beside the freshly unearthed casket for the six-hour ride, one thought consumed him: He was going to see his father.He never believed he'd have this chance. Three years old when his father, Medgar Evers, was killed, Van had only faint memories of a man leaving bubble gum cigars on his bunk bed. After the murder, he would pick up the phone and ask, "Have you seen my daddy?"Now, nearly 30 years later, the body was being brought to Albany, N.Y., from Arlington National Cemetery for an autopsy to bolster a case against the accused killer.

The Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the NAACP's executive director, said yesterday that the O. J. Simpson murder case "makes my job harder" because it is likely to harden the negative stereotypes that some Americans hold about black men.Dr. Chavis told editorial writers at The Sun yesterday that he hadn't commented before on the Simpson case because he believed that it was not "a matter of racial justice" but the tragic fall of an "American hero." He said: "What I would caution against is people taking O. J.'s experience and extrapolating it [to cover]

Allies of fired NAACP Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. have launched bids to win control of the civil rights group's Baltimore and Chicago branches in elections this month.But, in an apparent move to block the Chavis faction, the NAACP national board has ruled that youth members are ineligible to vote unless they pay adult dues.Kobi Little, a 23-year-old former Johns Hopkins University NAACP leader, is challenging Rodney Orange, president of the Baltimore branch, in a Nov. 28 election.

HARVARD religion and Afro-American studies professor Cornell West easily out-orated the field at the recent National Association of Black Journalists convention in Philadelphia.His lecture on the state of black America had the audience at times rolling with laughter, at times biting their lips to keep from crying. People were ready to apply to Harvard for a chance to be in one of his classes.The only time Mr. West seemed to lose confidence was when he tried to explain his endorsement of the "Million Man March" that Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and former NAACP executive director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. are planning for Washington on Oct. 16.After having chastised black journalists for sometimes telling only "two-thirds of the truth" to keep a job, Mr. West admitted that in the case of the proposed march he is having to compromise his true feelings about the NOI.He said he does not agree with the Nation of Islam's apparent homophobia, its subjugation of women or lack of tolerance for Jews, but the march is about one thing -- "black suffering" -- and that he could support Mr. Farrakhan in a demonstration about that.

In a fiery, early morning speech yesterday in Baltimore, former Nation of Islam spokesman Khallid Abdul Muhammad praised the ouster of NAACP Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr."I'm thankful that Ben Chavis got the boot today," Mr. Muhammad told about 150 people gathered at the Walbrook High School auditorium in West Baltimore for an evening of black militant speeches and poetry.Dr. Chavis, he said, is "a boot-licking . . . nigger" for condemning and repudiating Mr. Muhammad for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a speech in November.

WE noted with interest a recent story about how NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Chavis angered some of the civil rights group's board members by meeting with a group of black "radicals" without telling them. Surprisingly, also among the guests was Cornell West, a Princeton University professor of religion who has written eloquently of what he calls the "crisis" of black leadership.One black leader who was not invited was former Washington Mayor Marion Barry. Mr. Barry has had his share of crises since first being elected district mayor in 1978.

Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church has established a scholarship foundation that members say they hope will link the past with the present to create a brighter future for the church's youth.The foundation is offering three memorial scholarships named for members of the church who were educational or civic leaders. The recipients will be announced in late May or early June during Mount Moriah's annual "Scholarship Sunday" celebration.The N. Jerome Edwards Science Memorial Scholarship offers a student $2,000 a year.

BALTIMORE -- The Cross Keys home of NAACP Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. was burglarized last week while he and his wife, Martha, were out of town, city police said.Police said Mrs. Chavis called police at 10:45 p.m. Friday, after she returned home to find that the front door had been forced open at the couple's apartment on Hamill Court in the North Baltimore community.Mrs. Chavis told police that papers had been disturbed on the second floor, although she was not sure if anything was missing.

At a meeting to clear the air after the firing of NAACP Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the Baltimore NAACP branch announced last night that it was postponing its annual Unity Banquet partly because of fallout from the controversy.The meeting also featured a surprise appearance by Martha Rivera Chavis, the wife of the ousted NAACP national leader, who said she had been hurt by "misinformation" about her husband. Mrs. Chavis taped much of the meeting at the Baltimore Urban League's Orchard Street headquarters.

EVER since W.E.B. DuBois founded the Crisis in 1910 as the official organ of the NAACP, the magazine has held an honored place among publications dedicated to the struggle for equal rights for all Americans. Yet in one crucial respect, the magazine didn't practice what it preached -- in its 84 year history, the Crisis had never had a woman editor.All that changed in January, when Crisis publisher Gentry W. Trotter named Denise Crittendon, formerly of the Detroit News, as managing editor of the venerable journal.