Nation IN BRIEF : INDIANA : Chavis Says NAACP Ranks Are Unified

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the newly installed executive director of the NAACP, pledged to revitalize the 84-year-old civil rights organization with new spirit and new money. And he said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, hobbled in the past by infighting, has unified. “This time there’s no fighting, no division,” Chavis said at the opening of the group’s national convention in Indianapolis. “Our ranks are together.” Chavis also announced the formation of the NAACP Reginald F. Lewis Memorial Endowment, named for the late black entrepreneur, to raise a minimum $100 million for the NAACP.