JACKSON, Miss.—Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba recalled the challenges the City of Jackson has faced over his tenure and celebrated the Mississippi capital’s resilience during the final State of the City address of his second term in office.
With less than a year remaining in his current term, he delivered an impassioned speech in the Ice House in Jackson on Oct. 10, where he sought to illustrate the city’s growth since voters first elected him to the office in 2017.
“No longer are city employees on furlough. The City boasts one of the most progressive and compassionate health care plans in the state,” the mayor said, referring to monthly city-enforced employee furlough days under former Mayor Tony Yarber’s administration.
The Democratic mayor is running for a third term in 2025 but has already drawn an array of challengers, including mostly Mississippi Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, who launched his campaign earlier this month.
Lumumba touted his efforts to rebuild Jackson’s long-understaffed police force, the creation of JPD’s Real Time Command Center, the emergence of the City’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, and pay raises for the police and fire departments as some of his administration’s public safety and crime prevention successes.
Lumumba also said he saw progress in investing in the City’s infrastructure, including paving streets, acquiring federal dollars for Jackson’s long-beleaguered water system and using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to modernize the public transit bus fleet.
The City has “leveraged tens of millions of dollars” to repair major thoroughfares like Northside Drive, Bailey Avenue and Riverside Drive, among others, he said, referring to the investments from the 1% sales tax.
“We are now turning to your neighborhoods. We will commence repaving projects across every ward,” he continued.
He also mentioned the City’s ability to avert the Mississippi Board of Education’s plan to take over the Jackson Public Schools District in 2017.
“After being faced with the impending takeover of our schools, the City of Jackson, the state of Mississippi, the Kellogg Foundation and you, the residents of Jackson, crafted a solution to ensure the success of our children and of our district,” he said, declaring that Jackson Public Schools had made “a full recovery” since then.
Moving forward, Lumumba said, his administration will continue to focus on combating homelessness by supporting the development of transitional housing, removing dilapidated commercial buildings that are eyesores throughout the city and hiring mental health professionals to address the root causes of violence.
Toward the end of his speech, Lumumba maintained an unwavering stance against state-sponsored attempts to usurp ownership of City managed assets like the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers Airport, Smith-Wills Stadium and the water system that is now temporarily managed by federally appointed, third-party administrator Ted Henifin.
Amid the water crisis, the mayor said he made it his personal mission to “turn the eyes of the world towards the humiliation our residents have shouldered for decades.”
“Moving forward, we must remain resolute in our demand for a water system that is sustainable, dependable and equitable and is controlled by the people,” he continued. Over the past year, Lumumba and Henifin have fallen out due to disagreements over the effort to fix the water system.
While Lumumba said that his administration welcomes “a renewed relationship with our state leadership to brainstorm on the progress of our capital city and the prosperity of the state of Mississippi”, he added that Jackson cannot “surrender our assets and resources of our city.”
Lastly, the mayor told Jackson residents, “we are the cavalry that we’ve been waiting for.”
“Now is the time that we rescue ourselves,” he said. He then quoted Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican-born leader of the Pan-African movement, saying “Up you mighty race, accomplish what you will.”
You can watch the full State of the City address on the City of Jackson’s Facebook page.
Correction: The headline of this article previously included an incorrect spelling of the word cavalry. We apologize for the error.