Chokwe Lumumba was an exemplary leader for Black liberation in the U.S., particularly in the U.S. South. As a founding member of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, he dedicated his life to the African American liberation struggle and the belief that African Americans in the U.S. have a right to self-determination. As an attorney, he represented many African American political prisoners and people facing state repression, including Assata Shakur and hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur.

On June 5, 2013, Chokwe Lumumba was elected mayor of Jackson, winning 87% of the vote in the general election. His term as mayor was cut short by his sudden death. Chokwe Lumumba will be missed for his revolutionary legacy that taught people all over the world that the struggle for Black liberation in the Black Belt South continues boldly in the 21st century.

Chokwe Lumumba’s passing is felt by working and oppressed people far and wide. The struggle to which he dedicated his life continues.

With regards, The Freedom Road Socialist Organization

#JacksonMS #Remembrances #selfdetermination #nationalLiberation #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #ChokweLumumba #MalcolmXGrassrootsMovement #NewAfrika #Elections

Jackson, MS – On June 4, Chokwe Lumumba won the election as mayor here, winning 87% of the vote in the general election. He had all but assured his victory by winning a stunning come-from-behind upset in the Democratic Party primary on May 21 in this 80% Black city in the heart of the Black Belt South.

As Lumumba’s campaign surged toward a surprise victory in the May 21 primary election, some powerful forces in Jackson panicked and tried in vain to stop Lumumba from advancing by pouring money into the opposing candidate’s campaign and by spreading lies and rumors about Lumumba in the Black community.

Lumumba is a lifelong leader in the Black liberation movement. He is associated with the view that there is an oppressed Black Nation in the Black Belt South that has a right to self-determination. He is a co-founder and leader of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, which describes itself as “an organization of Afrikans in America/New Afrikans whose mission is to defend the human rights of our people and promote self-determination in our community.”

Lumumba is a lawyer who has defended many Black revolutionary political prisoners over the years, including Assata Shakur during her 1977 trial. He also served as a lawyer for radical hip hop artist Tupac Shakur during some of his prominent legal cases in the 1990s, and has fought and won many campaigns against police brutality.

Although Lumumba ran as a candidate of the Democratic Party, he described himself as a “Fannie Lou Hamer Democrat,” a reference to the 1960s Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party leader who organized a parallel Democratic Party in Mississippi to challenge the white supremacist Mississippi Democratic Party of that time. That caused a major showdown and national scandal at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Lumumba’s electoral effort is part of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and Jackson People’s Assembly’s “Jackson Plan” to build toward Black self-determination in the Deep South.

#JacksonMS #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChokweLumumba #MalcolmXGrassrootsMovement #BlackBeltSouth #Elections