wfn.org | United Church of Christ Leaders remember the ministry of Charles Cobb

[George Conklin <gconklin@wfn.org>]

United Church of Christ
Office of Communication
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115
contact: Barbara Powell
phone: 216-736-2222
email: powellb@ucc.org
http://www.ucc.org

African-American church leaders praise Cobb

By Clifford L. Willis
The former Ben Chavis — now Ben Muhammad — came home last night. The former
executive director of the Commission for Racial Justice was invited to join in
a tribute to his mentor and the first Commission head, the Rev. Charles E. Cobb
Sr.

“I want to thank you for inviting me to come back home ... but I really haven’t
left,” said the Nation of Islam minister to a late-night gathering at the
Westin Hotel, Providence, R.I.  Muhammad was among five persons who spoke of
Cobb’s legacy to the United Church of Christ’s ongoing work in social justice.
The worship event was cosponsored by CRJ, United Black Christians and Ministers
for Racial, Social and Economic Justice.

“Dr. Cobb had many sons and I’m one of them,” said Muhammad. He referred to
himself as probably Cobb’s biggest “prodigal son -- but prodigal sons always
know where home is.”

“I come with a certain joy that Dr. Cobb lived long enough to see some of his
dreams come true,” said Chavis.  Among those dreams was the release of North
Carolina inmate Marie Harris from death row. 

There are, however, more people on death row than before, he said. He
challenged the UCC to continue the fight against capital punishment, calling it
an injustice. No one person or institution has the right to take a life, he
declared, because no person or institution can give life. 

Speaker after speaker, including Muhammad, talked about how Cobb’s legacy
continues to influence the Cleveland-based denomination. Cobb’s spirit, though,
will irritate the UCC in the future if its restructure disenfranchises the
homeless and the poor, said Muhammad. If it does not, Cobb’s spirit will be a
“balm to our souls,” he added.

Muhammad exhorted the General Synod to hear the cries of the poor, the
dispossessed, the damned of the world and of America in every city it gathers.
He further challenged the United Black Christians and Ministers for Social,
Racial and Economic Justice to “stay organized and stay mobilized.”
Organization and mobilization were gifts the late Commission executive left to
both groups and to African-American UCC members.

Charles Cobb saw himself as the father of the African-American community; the
African-American constituency of the UCC; to ethnic peoples of the UCC; and to
the denomination at large, said the Rev. Bill Land of Cincinnati.  “As a
father, he took rough, uncultured stones and processed them into diamonds. I’m
an example of that,” said the pastor of Freeman Avenue United Church of Christ.

Land is among 15 persons Cobb influenced to take up ministry careers--many of
them “street cats like myself. The Southern Conference is full of them.” He
credited Cobb with bringing salvation and soul to black men and women
activists. Among them is a cadre of 25 lawyers--six of whom are now judges. One
is currently a law school dean.

Charles Cobb knew who he was and what he had to say and to be, said United
Church of Christ President the Rev. Paul H. Sherry. “And he did it with
strength and power. There was no other person in the UCC that embodied who we
are in this church and who we hope to be.” 

In reminiscing, Sherry remembered that Cobb always said, “the UCC can always be
counted on to do the right thing — when it is pushed.” And he throughout his
career, he pushed the denomination at the right time.

Current CRJ executive Bernice Powell Jackson called Cobb fearless, formidable
and “an uncompromising warrior for justice. I’m conscious of his presence and
his proclivity to push me as well as the United Church of Christ.”

The Rev. Henry Simmons of New York called on the crowd to “recommit ourselves
to keep chasing, searching and looking and maybe we’ll be able to catch it
[justice] by its leg.” 

Justice is always elusive, said the chairperson of the CRJ board of directors. 
“Keep chasing, keep running, keep pursuing,” said Simmons, “knowing success
isn’t always measured by the acquisition of that which we pursue.”  Success, he
said, can be measured by the diligence and tenacity one exhibits to “keep
searching and seeking and looking.” 

Charles Earl Cobb Sr. was a “leader of leaders” and a “fearless, hardheaded
dude,” said the Rev. Edwin Edmonds, New Haven, Conn., the first chair of the
Commission for Racial Justice. “How marvelous it was over the years watching
this tiger.”

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