Chokwe Lumumba

Professions :

Former Mayor of Jackson

Born :

August 2, 1947

Died :

February 25, 2014

Change does not come on thoughts alone; because we have a revolutionary ideology and give speeches on it. It comes because you can change the material conditions of people, and get people to assist in the change, be the mainstay in the change in their conditions.

doe giving people

When it comes to the discussion of oppression in America, we've been experiencing the worst of it for a long time. What's exciting to me is the prospect of going from worst to first in a forward-moving transformation which is going to take groups of dispossessed black folks here and others and make us controllers of our own destiny.

destiny america moving

When we talk about economic growth, we're not talking about bringing a bunch of companies in that can make a bunch of bucks and hope they spend 'em in our city. We're talking about creating jobs, creating new companies and then we move from there to talk about cooperatives which can become some of those jobs, some of the solidarity economy where we can begin to band together people so they'll understand that a job is not a single individual affair but a collective affair.

talking jobs moving

In order to create a permanent atmosphere of change, that's where the solidarity economy of change comes in. You don't want to simply invest in what exists already hoping that the next group of entrepreneurs are not as greedy as the last one.

atmosphere entrepreneur order

I think some of the most significant things happen in history when you get the right people in the right place at the right time and I think that's what we are.

significant-things people thinking

Mayors typically don't do the things we're trying to do... Revolu... by Chokwe Lumumba

Mayors typically don't do the things we're trying to do... Revolutionaries aren't typically Mayor.

mayors revolutionary trying

I think there's pressure on every mayor who's trying to do the right thing by their people, and that's the pressure of a capitalist society, which does not want to give up a dime. They basically want to constrain the people in every way they can.

giving-up people thinking