Chokwe Antar Lumumba: Being a Radical Means Getting to the Root Causes of Injustice

Chokwe Antar Lumumba: Being a Radical Means Getting to the Root Causes of Injustice

The mayor of Jackson is building a “dignity economy” to lift up Mississippi’s biggest city.

John Nichols
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has a vision that distinguishes him from most elected officials in the United States, even from most progressive elected officials. He is not afraid of the world “radical,” in fact he relishes discussions about what it means to go to the root of challenging issues, to identify the sources of injustice, and to address them.

Mayor Lumumba comes from an activist family: His father, Chokwe Lumumba, was a legendary figure in Jackson and nationally, a brilliant lawyer, and organizer with the Republic of New Afrika and other groups on behalf of communities that have been let down by both major parties. The senior Lumumba warned against imagining that answers would come from distant political figures. He believed in building from the grassroots up. Eventually, he was elected mayor of Jackson in 2013, a victory that drew national attention because of what it said about the opening up of American politics, especially in the South. He was described as America’s most revolutionary mayor.

When he died, less than a year after taking office, his son ran to replace him, and lost. That defeat did not dissuade Chokwe Antar Lumumba, he kept speaking up, organizing, and campaigning.

In 2017, running on a people’s platform and an agenda of social justice and economic democracy, he won the mayoralty by a landslide, taking 94 percent of the general election vote. He promised to make Jackson the most radical city on the planet. As mayor, he has stood up to Donald Trump, and he has taken on national issues, but his primary focus has been on the grassroots work of delivering services, people-powered budgeting, and community empowerment. Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, is our guest this week on Next Left.

SHOW NOTES

Mayor-elect Lumumba: Jackson ‘to be the most radical city on the planet’, Clarion Ledger, Anna Wolfe

Mass ICE Raids in Mississippi After Workers Fought for Better Conditions Leave Kids Without Parents, Democracy Now!

Is This the Most Radical Mayor in America? The Nation, D.D. Guttenplan

Why Fixing Potholes Is Key to This Mayor’s Radical Political Agenda, The Nation, Greg Kaufmann

After Immigration Raids In Mississippi, Mayor of Jackson Calls On Churches To Become Safe Havens, WBUR

“Misty Blue,” Dorothy Moore

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

John Nichols John Nichols is the executive editor of The Nation. He previously served as the magazine’s national affairs correspondent and Washington correspondent. Nichols has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.


Ad Policy
x