Jackson, MS – Around 200 reproductive rights activists from four states gathered in Jackson, Mississippi on June 17. They demonstrated against the U.S. Supreme Court as the country anticipates its decision on a Mississippi case that could overturn Roe v. Wade. The activists called themselves Abortion Freedom Fighters and called their action a D-Day Rally in defiance of the Republican-dominated Supreme Court and their determination to defend abortion access.

The central organizers of the event were Sisters Helping Every Woman Rise and Organize (SHERO Mississippi), a Jackson reproductive justice group. They led the crowd in chanting, “I am an abortion freedom fighter!”

Local organizer Michelle Colon said, “The Supreme Court does not control our destiny, we do.”

The demonstration was held in Smith Park with sound and stage work provided by IATSE local 589 members. Organizations from every state in the Gulf South were represented.

Over 20 activists from New Orleans traveled together to demonstrate with the Louisiana Coalition for Reproductive Freedom. Jessica Frankle, an LCRF leader, spoke at the rally, “We will continue to center the needs of those who are most impacted, and we will push back against attempts to turn providers or patients into criminals.”

 Members of the New Orleans-based transgender rights organization Real Name Campaign traveled to Jackson with the caravan. In the middle of Pride month, they highlighted the solidarity between the LGBTQ movement and the reproductive rights movement.

“Both gender affirming care and abortion access are essential healthcare needs that must be protected so women and LGBTQ people can participate fully and equally in society,” said Mar Erlich of Real Name Campaign.

Anti-choice fundamentalists tried to violently disrupt the rally, hurling racist slurs and threats to provoke the protesters. They were drastically outnumbered by pro-choice activists. An armed community security team prevented the anti-choice group from attacking pro-choice demonstrators.

#JacksonMS #RoeVWade #reproductiveRights

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