Mayor Chokwe Lumumba (Jackson Mississippi) dies unexpectedly
Source: WAPT TV
Just announced on local news, recently elected mayor of Jackson Mississippi has died. No details at present. (5:56pm edited to include source now posted on WAPT website)
Early reports are that while he was a cancer survivor, his death was caused by a heart attack
Lumumba had connections to the 1970's "radical" group, the Republic of New Africa, was a community activist and a huge upset when he beat the establishment candidate for mayor of Jackson. After only 7 months in office he was generally considered to have been doing a very effective mayor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokwe_Lumumba
Chokwe Lumumba (born August 2, 1947) is Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi. Lumumba was born in westside of Detroit, Michigan as Edwin Finley Taliaferro, a name he refers to as his 'slave name'. Lumumba was the second child of eight born to Lucien and Priscilla Taliaferro.[1] He has been prominent in the reparations and other self-determination movements of persons of African descent and was elected mayor of Jackson, Mississippi on June 4, 2013
In 2009 Lumumba was elected to Jackson Ward Two council seat with the help of the organization he helped start, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Jackson People's Assembly, Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition, and other community activists. He has served as chairman of the New African Peoples Organization and co-sponsored the Washington DC rally, Occupy the Justice Department, and in 2010 addressed the New Black Panther Party in Atlanta. He was also active in the political organizing for relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Recently he helped free the Scott sisters and successfully defended the late recording artist, Tupac Shakur.[citation needed] The local grassroots organizations have plans to utilize vacant or underutilized urban or rural lands to supply poor urban populations with a sustainable, fresh food source. He has helped the Mississippi Public Broadcasting agency in the anti-dropout campaign for young students.
On Election Day for the Democratic Party primary for Mayor of Jackson on May 7, 2013, prior to the regular, local evening news, it was known that Lumumba had forced Jonathan Lee into a runoff election and that the incumbent, Harvey Johnson, Jr., had been soundly defeated in each municipal ward. Lumumba had led in at least five of the seven wards.[15] Von Anderson of Jackson noted that Lumumba had raised only $69,000 prior to the primary election on May 7 which is five times less than Jonathan Lee, but that their grassroots work would be more decisive in the upcoming runoff.[16] On May 15, Attorney Regina Quinn, the fourth place Democratic primary finisher, endorsed Lumumba for his stance on infrastructure development as an economic stimulus for local Jackson businesses and his insistence that the city pay women equally with men in like positions.[17] The local weekly noted that the candidate was influenced more by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party than the standing Mississippi Democrats.
On May 21, 2013 Lumumba defeated Jonathan Lee by over 3,000 votes and bested his opponent in five out of the seven municipal wards. With negligible opposition in the June 4th general election, he easily became the mayor-elect for the capital and largest city of Mississippi. One day after the electoral victory, Lumumba questioned the significance of Christoper Columbus as a 'discoverer of America'.[18] He won the general election on June 4, 2013 and was sworn in as Mayor on July 1, 2013.
Read more: http://www.wapt.com/news/central-mississippi/jackson/jackson-mayor-chokwe-lumumba-dies/24670358
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