July 12, 2017 The Skanner Page 9
News
Tributes Pour in Celebrating the Life of Martha Rivera Chavis
Lifelong activist remembered for her commitment to domestic and international civil rights
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire
M
artha Rivera Cha-
vis was not just
the wife of civil
rights leader Dr.
Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.,
but by all accounts, from
those who knew the Do-
minican Republic-born
activist, Rivera Chavis
strived just as hard as
her beloved husband
for freedom, justice and
equality for Blacks and
other minorities.
“I met Martha in 1993
when she was head of the
Women in NAACP [WIN]
committee and she sim-
ply brought new life to
that organization,” said
Zach McDaniels, who
served as the strategic
adviser for Dr. Chavis,
when he organized the
Million Man March.
“Martha shook up the
NAACP, she had a very
“
Martha Rivera Chavis
translator for Angola’s
United Nation’s ambas-
sador.
Angola’s U.N. Ambassa-
dor Manuel Pacavira in-
“We had the dinner
with the ambassador in
early September and by
the 20th of September,
we got married,” Chavis
said. “It was not only love
at fi rst sight, but mar-
riage at fi rst sight.”
The couple brought
home 10 Angolans, in-
cluding six with missing
limbs.
The injured foreign
visitors remained in the
Chavis’ home for more
than a year with the cou-
ple traveling with them
to Capitol Hill to bring to
light the atrocities that
were happening in An-
gola and other parts of
Africa.
“Martha didn’t just
show sympathy, she em-
pathized and wanted to
do something about it,”
Chavis said.
She supported Chavis’
decision to leave his life-
time post as executive
director of the United
Church of Christ’s Com-
mission for Racial Jus-
tice to become executive
director of the NAACP,
even though it meant up-
rooting the family from
Cleveland to Baltimore.
“The thought of leaving
a secure position meant a
lot of soul-searching for
both of us and Reginald F.
Lewis had convinced me
to do it and Martha en-
couraged me to go for the
NAACP job,” Chavis said.
“She would become
“
late 20s. When I won, I
would never forget the
famous picture of Mar-
tha and I in The New
York Times.”
Chavis continued: “She
sang ‘Lift Every Voice
and Sing’ with all of us
and she always remem-
bered that and I would
always use those words,
those verses, in my
speeches and sermons.”
She had an understanding
way about her and was very
accepting of other people.
The world was a better place
with her in it
a strong advocate for
the NAACP and, at the
time, the organization
was struggling to attract
younger people to come
back and here I was with
my young wife, in her
Rivera Chavis would
become head of WIN; she
supported the women of
the Million Man March
and then spoke along
See CHAVIS on page 10
Martha shook up the
NAACP, she had a very
vibrant spirit and to be
around her and in her pres-
ence, was always something
special
vibrant spirit and to be
around her and in her
presence, was always
something special,” said
McDaniels also worked
as director of commu-
nity aff airs for famed
Baltimore attorney Billy
Murphy.
Rivera Chavis passed
away in her home in
Montclair, N.J. at 3 a.m.
on Thursday, July 6.
She was 53.
“Our mother’s spirit,
passion and love will al-
ways be with us,” Rivera
Chavis and Dr. Chavis’
children, Franklin, Ana
Elisabeth, John Mandela,
and Reginald Louis Cha-
vis, said in a statement.
Chavis and his wife met
in the late 80s, aft er the
civil rights leader spent
time in Angola, where
American-backed rebels
mined civilian areas.
At the time, Angola
had one of the highest
percentages of individ-
uals with missing limbs,
victims of the country’s
brutal civil war, a fact
that moved both Dr. Cha-
vis and his wife.
When Chavis met
Martha Rivera, she was
29 and employed as a
French-to-Portuguese
troduced the couple at a
New York restaurant and
Chavis said although she
was 16 years his junior,
he was impressed with
Martha’s sense of histo-
ry and her knowledge of
the contemporary move-
ment in African, Latin
America and the Carib-
bean—each striving for
independence, freedom
and equality.
“I was impressed that
this young sister from
the Dominican Repub-
lic had an African con-
science. A lot of times
when you come from a
place, you know where
you are and you know
your roots, but Martha
knew what was going
on in the contemporary
world,” Chavis said.
Rivera Chavis graduat-
ed from Paris-Sorbonne
University, the main
inheritor of the old Sor-
bonne, which dates back
to the 13th century and
counts as one of the fi rst
universities in the world.
She spoke fl uently in
fi ve languages: Spanish,
Portuguese, French, Ital-
ian and English. She also
worked as a translator
for the Angolan ambas-
sador.
speakers
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