By Sandra Beckard, Speakin’ Out News, staff writer
Black History 365, not just for one month out of the year. Jim Crow laws were any state or local laws that enforced or legalized racial segregation. It was said that these laws lasted for almost 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until around 1968. Or so we thought. Their main purpose was to legalize the marginalization of African Americans.
What’s happening in Jackson is the prime example of revenge being heaped on a Black Mayor of a City whose residents are 82% black and who dared to stand up to a racist Governor. The State of Mississippi is establishing laws, from their white racist past, in real time.
The Honorable Chokwe Antar Lumumba is the example of why slave owners did not want our ancestors to learn how to read. When you learn to read you gain knowledge and that is something that no one can take away from you. Lumumba is an Attorney and the youngest Mayor in the City’s history.
When the water crises hit Jackson in 2021 and the Governor of Mississippi , Tate Reeves, was forced to take action because the world was watching, Lumumba stood firmly and professionally and let the world know that for decades the City of Jackson had be asking for help with the outdated water system, but did not receive it. While past Republican Governors and Legislators ignored the requests, he called this Governor out! It has been “on” since! How dare this black man stand up to this white man in public! Tate Reeves with the help of his partners in crime, Mississippi House Bill 1020 was schemed.
HB1020 in Mississippi is a Jim Crow Law. Lumumba issued a statement, “…this law exists as an attack against black leadership. It is an effort to strip one of the largest black communities in the nation of its voting rights, pick its leadership and deny the right to vote. This bill would make Mississippi a model for red states with blue capital cities…” they want it cloaked as an agreement between the city and the state — as opposed to what it really is — a seizure of power over our City.” During a press conference Thursday, February 16 Tate Reeves said that the capital city of Jackson is the “murder capital of the world.” Words made up to justify this bill.
This racist Governor and others are still blaming the City of Jackson for water plants that serves the city that were built in 1914 and as late as the 1980s. No one knows when a pipe of equipment might fail.
Once Upon A Time In a Place Called Right Now- Jim Crow still lives. Thank you Mayor Lumumba for doing what you were called to do. That is to stand up for your community. The State of Mississippi needs more leaders like you!
