Why Jackson, Ms. matters

By David Dennis Jr.
Contributing Columnist

While I was born in Lafayette and currently live in New Orleans, I was raised in Jackson, MS. So I’ve always been connected to what’s happening in the city. Right now, the Mississippi capitol is setting a blueprint for self-sufficiency and rebounding when the chips are down. We here in New Orleans should definitely be paying attention to the revolution happening a few miles up 55 North.

In case you didn’t know, the mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Lumumba, passed away unexpectedly at the end of February. The death sent the city into a mini-panic. Here’s why: Lumumba was changing the culture in Jackson and sending shockwaves through the entire country.

Chokwe Lumumba was seen as a radical, someone too left to run any city in America, let alone one in the heartland of Mississippi. To many, Lumumba was remembered as the militant who demanded a Black Independent union in a seceded South. People thought of the Dashiki pictures. The calls for reparations. However, when he ran for mayor, he set off a groundswell of activism and excitement about Jackson politics I haven’t seen in my lifetime.

Lumumba was an outside underdog to win the mayoral election, however he impressed the political structure and rallied passion from the voting public. When he won in the runoff, half the city rejoiced while the conservative sector waited for the city to collapse. Well, the city did the opposite.

Lumumba led Jackson to the most cooperative and unified era its seen since I’ve been there. His increased sales tax to help improve the infrastructure seemed to be part of an answer the city needed for economic stability. He never abandoned his Black Nationalist background, using his call for action to mobilize the Black community while his unifying policies made it hard to deny his effectiveness for the other side of the tracks. The city was ready for an uplifting revolution.

Then Lumumba died. Hope seemed lost. It seemed like Lumumba’s impact would be a fleeting moment lost in the history of a city that tamps out the flames of change at every chance. But something interesting happened: Jackson gathered itself, rallied around Lumumba’s momentum and pushed candidates who wanted to carry on a changing city.

Lumumba’s son, 31-year-old Chokwe Antar Lumumba, is in a run-off with Tony Yarber — another African-American male in his 30s. No matter who wins, the city seems to be in great hands as both men are furthering the late mayor’s legacy and igniting a city that could have fallen apart two months ago. Just check Facebook and Twitter from Jackson residents. Young men and women are sharing campaign videos, economic plans and optimism for Jackson. Don’t be surprised if in a year Jackson is lifted as an example of a successful majority-Black city that’s rallied back from the depths.

So what does this have to do with New Orleans?

Jackson showed that leaders can impact a city without neglecting anyone. Lumumba also showed that it’s possible to get younger members of a city to care about politics and the betterment of a city. So often the teenagers and 20-somethings in the city are seen as people who just don’t care. As if the passion that fueled the 60s movements aren’t present in the new generation of New Orleanians. Maybe we just need to uplift our unifying forces in the city to let these young voices be known to the masses.

I’m not totally sold on the idea of a mayor in his or her mid-30s to be honest, however, just the idea of a ticket full of young hopefuls with positive messages and actual plans for a future is inspiring.

So, as the Jackson mayoral elections wind to a close and Lumumba’s legacy carries on, we should pay attention and see how we can capture that same lightning in a bottle to drum up similar passion from my generation. Because I guarantee that we have a desire to improve the city. Sometimes you just have to look for it.

This article originally published in the April 21, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.