from the Political Committee of Solidarity
March 1, 2014
Freedom Fighter Chokwe Lumumba died suddenly on February 25, 2014 at the age of 66. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and the New Afrikan People’s Organization.
Chokwe Lumumba celebrates his primary victory on May 21, 2013 with his son, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and daughter, Rukia Lumumba.
Lumumba spent the majority of his life fighting for justice. In his youth, he helped his mother collect money for SNCC. When he was older he was profoundly influenced to action by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. After becoming a lawyer he participated in the defense of Ozzie Williams and the Pontiac Sixteen. He served as Vice President of the Republic of New Afrika. He was lead defense in the Black Liberation Army-connected Brinks Case and was attorney for then Black Panther Party member Assata Shakur as well as rap artist Tupac Shakur. He was active in the anti-apartheid movement and was a participant or leader of many of the most important aspects of the Black liberation movement during his adult lifetime. Lumumba was a founder of the New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
After Hurricane Katrina, Lumumba helped lead the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund in Louisiana and the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition. Following the general failure to build a large-scale fightback in New Orleans, his visionary attempts to build People’s Assemblies and a Reconstruction Party influenced the political trajectory in the Jackson area, where he had longtime allies. In 2009 he was elected to city council in Jackson. And, as part of the innovative and provocative Jackson-Kush Plan: The Struggle for Black Self-Determination and Economic Prosperity initiated by MXGM and NAPO, he launched a successful campaign winning a staggering 86% of the votes to become the Mayor of Jackson less than a year before he died.
We join other revolutionaries around the country in both mourning the loss of Mr. Lumumba and in honoring his legacy by continuing to “fight like hell” against oppression and injustice and for liberation and socialism.
May Comrade Lumumba Rest in Power!
Services for Mayor Chokwe Lumumba have been confirmed for Saturday, March 8th at 11 AM at the Jackson Convention Center. There will be a wake on Friday, March 7 at Jackson City Hall and an hour of remembrance beginning at 4 PM that day.
Background and other remembrances:
- Independent Politics and Self-Determination: An Interview with Chokwe Lumumba (Against The Current)
- A Victory for Lumumba in Jackson! (Solidarity Webzine)
- Chokwe Lumumba: Remembering America’s Most Revolutionary Mayor (Democracy Now!)
Comments
One response to “Chokwe Lumumba (1947-2014)”
I see that the Political Committee of Solidarity failed to mention one important thing in their moving tribute to Chokwe Lumumba: Why he died..?
Mayor Lumumba, a Democrat, died under mysterious circumstances. In fact, he may have been killed. Did anyone notice that the White county coroner refused to perform an autopsy? When his son ran for mayor to replace his deceased father, not surprisingly he was defeated.
Conspiracy theories start for a reason, folks. Mayor Lumumba tried to break from the status quo ever so slightly in Jackson, Mississippi and paid the ultimate price for it.