By John Royal, NLG Detroit/Michigan Chapter President In a stunning rebuke to the conservative Democratic Party of Mississippi; to the reactionary Republican Party of Mississippi; to the national right-wing trend; and to the election and policies of Donald Trump; the people of Jackson, MS have risen up and overwhelming selected Chokwe Antar Lumumba the nominee of the Mississippi Democratic Party for Mayor of Jackson, MS. In overwhelmingly Democratic Jackson, the Democratic Party nomination is tantamount to election.

Chokwe Antar Lumumba‘s father was Detroit native, Chokwe Lumumba, who was one of the national leaders of the Republic of New Africa. In the mid 1980’s, Chokwe Lumumba moved his family to Jackson, MS to work on organizing a grassroots movement to root out the remnants of Jim Crow segregation, and to work for the economic and political liberation of the African-American people of the deep south. To assist with this work, Chokwe and other activists founded the New African Peoples Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Organization. Chokwe Lumumba subsequently ran for and was elected to the Jackson City Council. Then, in 2013, he mounted a successful campaign for Mayor and was inaugurated Mayor in July, 2013. Tragically, Honorable Chokwe Lumumba died unexpectedly in February, 2014, after only eight months in office; as he was just in the early stages of implementing his progressive grassroots programs to improve the lives of the citizens of Jackson, MS.