Chokwe Antar Lumumba


Chokwe Antar Lumumba is an American attorney, activist, politician and the current Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi. While running for mayor, Lumumba soundly won the Democratic nomination, defeating incumbent mayor Tony Yarber and John Horhn, a state senator. As Jackson is a heavily Democratic leaning city, Lumumba's primary victory was likely to make him the next mayor of Jackson. Lumumba was endorsed by Our Revolution and the Working Families Party, and ran on a progressive platform promising to make Jackson "the most radical city on the planet." He is the son of former mayor Chokwe Lumumba, who served briefly before his death in 2014. Lumumba has two children with his wife, Ebony.
Lumumba was a featured speaker at the 2017 People's Summit.

Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi

In the summer of 2018, Lumumba attended Michael Bloomberg's "Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative." In a press release, released by the City of Jackson, the Initiative was created by Bloomberg to train leaders to "manage the complexities of running a city, and to have opportunities to learn from one another." Four months later, in November, 2018, Bloomberg awarded the City of Jackson $1 million to create art highlighting the food insecurity crisis in Jackson.

Jackson Zoo Crisis

In April, 2018, when the Jackson Zoo announced plans to consider moving from its current West Jackson location, Lumumba joined Working Together Jackson, the Zoo Area Progressive Partnership, Rosemont Missionary Baptist Church and other community groups, in an effort to prevent the zoo from moving and called the proposed plan disingenuous and disrespectful. During the dispute between Zoo leadership and the Lumumba administration, the Zoo contract expired and the facility was closed to the public for lack of licensing.