CASTING SHADOWS Chokwe Lumumba and the Struggle for Racial Justice ROSA and Economic Democracy in Jackson, Mississippi LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG NEW YORK OFFICE By Kali Akuno Table of Contents

“As the South Goes…So Goes the Nation.” By the Editors...... 1

Casting Shadows

Chokwe Lumumba and the Struggle for Racial Justice and Economic Democracy in Jackson, Mississippi...... 2

By Kali Akuno

Contextualizing the Initiative...... 3 A Short History of Black Resistance in Mississippi...... 4 Developing the Jackson Plan...... 7 Building and Sustaining the People’s Assembly...... 8 Engaging Power: the Administration of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba...... 10 Policies Pursued and Lessons Learned...... 13 The Chokwe Antar Lumumba Mayoral Campaign...... 15 Cooperation Jackson and the Struggle to Create Economic Democracy...... 16 Cooperation Jackson’s Sustainable Communities Initiative...... 18 A Just Transition in Service of Sustainable Communities...... 21 By Way of Conclusion...... 23

Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, February 2015

Editors: Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg Address: 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114, New York, NY 10016 Email: [email protected]; Phone: +1 (917) 409-1040

With support from the German Foreign Office

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is an internationally operating, progressive non-profit institution for civic education. In cooperation with many organizations around the globe, it works on democratic and social participation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups, alternatives for economic and social development, and peaceful conflict resolution.

The New York Office serves two major tasks: to work around issues concerning the United Nations and to engage in dialogue with North American progressives in universities, unions, social movements, and politics.

www.rosalux-nyc.org “As the South Goes…So Goes the Nation”

W.E.B Du Bois wrote these famous words in Black Reconstruction, linking America’s promise of de- mocracy to the horrendous conditions for Black people in the South. Sadly, the State of Mississippi has long been a bellwether in this regard, from slavery and lynchings to Jim Crow, segregation, and ongoing voter disenfranchisement. Today, Mississippi has both the country’s largest Black popula- tion by percentage and its highest poverty rate. This is a not a coincidence but an illustration of how economic inequality goes hand in hand with racial discrimination.

On the flip side of history, Mississippi has also long been a fertile ground for transformative social struggles, from Fannie Lou Hamer to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; and as a cra- dle of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. In the current period, Mississippi remains a lab- oratory for experiments in deep democracy and radical visions of what a New South could look like. A popular People’s Assembly, based out of the state capitol of Jackson and supported by organizing groups including the New Afrikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, gave rise to the mayoral election of longtime activist and left Black nationalist Chokwe Lumumba. While Lumumba’s untimely passing seven months into his administration dented these most re- cent ambitions of transforming Jackson and the surrounding region, efforts have continued in other forms.

The most significant of these is Cooperation Jackson, a multi-layered plan to support economic de- mocracy in the area, using as a foundation a network of cooperatives and other worker-owned, democratically managed enterprises. Led by members of the community alongside the core group of activists that supported Lumumba’s mayoral run, Cooperation Jackson seeks to foster democratic participation and establish a degree of economic independence, in particular for working class Black people, first in Jackson and then expanding through the Kush delta region of western Mississippi.

This current focus on solidarity economy initiatives doesn’t mean that today’s Mississippi Freedom Fighters have left behind yesterday’s dreams. In parallel, activists continue to work to build popular political consciousness among Black and working class people through projects of transformative community service and political education. They also retain the intention to again challenge for pow- er in the electoral sphere.

This publication is the first insider account of the Lumumba Administration. Kali Akuno, the author of this study, served as the coordinator of Special Projects and External Funding for the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. He also is the co-founder and director of Cooperation Jackson as well as an orga- nizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. In this piece, Akuno provides a critical history of the work done in Jackson in recent years, marrying these efforts to a future vision for the Jackson-Kush Plan to transform life in Jackson and beyond. For the target is clear: to turn around the State of Mis- sissippi.

Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg Co-Directors of New York Office, February 2015

1 Casting Shadows Chokwe Lumumba and the Struggle for Racial Justice and Economic Democracy in Jackson, Mississippi

By Kali Akuno

In Mississippi, deep down in the heart of “Dix- ⇒⇒ An Independent Political Force, which will ie,” a critical democratic experiment is attempt- challenge and replace the power of the two ing to challenge the state’s longstanding order parties of transnational capital—i.e., the of institutional white supremacy and paternal- Democrats and the Republicans—which istic capitalism. This experiment is premised dominate the arena of electoral politics in on building a radical culture of participatory Mississippi. democratic engagement to gain control over ⇒⇒ A Solidarity Economy, which will be an- the “authoritative” functions of governance, chored by a network of cooperatives and and to democratize the fundamental means supporting institutions to strengthen of production, distribution, and financial ex- worker power, worker democracy, and change. It is being led by the New Afrikan Peo- wealth equity in the state. ple’s Organization and the Malcolm X Grass- roots Movement, which themselves are build- Our experiment is anchored in the rich history ing on nearly two hundred years of struggle of organizing in the Civil Rights and Black Power for Afrikan liberation in the territories claimed Movements, starting at the beginning of Recon- by the European settler-state of Mississippi. struction and continuing into the early 21st cen- This experiment is called the Jackson-Kush tury with the election of longtime community Plan, named after the state’s capital, Jackson, organizer and radical lawyer Chokwe Lumumba and the eighteen contiguous majority Black as mayor of Jackson. It draws on the practices counties that border the Mississippi River, or and lessons of grassroots struggles to build Kush District, as it was called by members of consensual democracy, as exhibited by the au- the Provisional Government of the Republic of tonomous communities led by the Zapatistas in New Afrika. Chiapas, Mexico, as well as an economy of as- sociative producers that subordinates capital to The Jackson-Kush Plan has three programmat- labor and is rooted in social solidarity, as shown ic focuses intended to build a mass base with by Mondragón in Euskadi, also known as the the political clarity, organizational capacity, Basque region of the Spanish nation-state. and material self-sufficiency to build autono- mous power: The fundamental aim of our experiment is to attain power. The power for Afrikan, In- ⇒⇒ People’s Assemblies, which will serve as in- digenous, and other oppressed peoples and struments of “dual power” to counter the exploited classes living on this landmass to abusive powers of the state and the eco- control our own lives and determine our own nomic and social domination of the forces destinies. The power to liberate ourselves of capital (regional, national, and interna- from the clutches of the oppressive systems of tional). white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, and

2 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

imperialism that structure social reality in the ricultural production, particularly that of cotton state of Mississippi. picking. Automation displaced nearly a million Black workers between the late 1940s and the early 1970s, forcing them to migrate to urban Contextualizing the Initiative areas throughout the United States.

For most, the potential of our democratic ex- Industrial manufacturing entered Mississip- periment runs counter to the common percep- pi on a significant scale beginning in the late tions about Mississippi, which is better known 1920s. The key manufacturing industries in- as a historic standard bearer for the ruthless cluded shipbuilding, timber cutting and pro- enslavement of African people. As the demand cessing, transport and shipping, canning and, for cotton grew worldwide in the 19th century, later, industrial catfish, chicken, and pig farm- Mississippi became the center of the expanding ing. Industrial capital exploited the existing ra- domestic slave trade. Over one million slaves cial order and system of super-exploitation to were transported to the Deep South between deepen the fragmentation of the multi-national 1790 and 1860 (resulting in the popular phrase working class and keep it in a subordinate po- “being sold down the river,” which referred to sition. Black workers were either relegated to the brutal conditions in the Mississippi and Ohio menial positions or grossly undercompensated River regions). The growth of “King Cotton” also when they performed skilled labor in the facto- resulted in the expulsion of the Indigenous pop- ries. The racial divide was also successfully used ulation and the marginalization of poor whites to limit the development of working class con- in the face of plantation economies. The failure sciousness and working class organization. Be- of radical reconstruction to break up the plan- ginning in the late 1890s, regional capital, both tation system after the war, along with the cre- agricultural and industrial, was able to build a ation of “Black codes” to enforce segregation, solid alliance with sectors of the white working created a triple “P” effect: the poverty, prisons, class to resist unionization and defeat the legis- and paternalistic white supremacy that have lative gains of the National Labor Relations Act, impacted Mississippi ever since. primarily via the passage of Taft-Hartley and the institutionalization of “right to work” laws Paternalist capitalism emerged and deepened that were designed to privilege white workers. in the state in the late 19th and early 20th cen- The “right to work” regime that governs Missis- turies. This form of capitalism is based on the sippi labor relations is the other defining fea- shift in how Black labor was exploited after the ture of paternalist capitalism that continues to Civil War and Reconstruction periods. Following define the social order in the state. the collapse of the short-lived Reconstruction government in Mississippi, Black workers were Today Mississippi is the poorest state in the primarily confined to becoming sharecrop- union, with a median household income of pers—farm laborers working almost exclusively $37,095. The City of Jackson is one of the poor- for the large landowners who had been their est metropolitan cities in the United States, owners or their owners’ descendants. In many with a median household income of $33,434 respects, sharecroppers were slaves by anoth- and a poverty rate of 28.3% between 2008 and er name, wholly dependent on large landown- 2012. The city’s “official” unemployment rate ers for wages, food, shelter, and medical care. stood at 8% as of August 2013, according to the This system lasted nearly ninety years, from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor 1870s until the 1960s. It was gradually weak- Statistics. However, its “real” unemployment ened by the automation of larger portions of ag- rate is estimated to be above 25%. Poverty and

3 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

unemployment are only the tip of the iceberg. striction of the capacity of labor and agricultural Mississippi’s wealth equity figures are even and industrial production, trade, and financial worse. It is estimated that people of African flows in and out of the state. Rather than stim- descent control less than 10% of the vested ulating growth and maximizing profits through capital in the state. increased production and trade, the local white ruling class has prioritized a strategy of contain- Mississippi is also one of the most repressive ment that deliberately seeks to fetter the Black states in the union. It has the third highest in- population by limiting its access to capital and carceration rate in the United States, with the decent wages, both of which constitute a critical overwhelming number of those incarcerated source of labor power and strength in a capital- being people of African descent. It is also noted ist society. “Money doesn’t talk as loud as race for being at or near the bottom of every major in Mississippi,” as an old saying goes. quality of life indicator, including health mea- sures, quality housing, transportation, worker This contingent and paternalist capitalism has rights and protections, and educational access produced a number of deep contradictions and attainment. within the state. Black populations constitute majorities in 16 western counties in Mississip- While the oppressive character of Mississippi pi, resulting in the highest percentage of Black has historic and current weight, at the same elected officials in the union. However, demo- time there is also tremendous potential for graphics alone are not the only determining fac- radical transformation. It is our argument that tor. A long memory of white supremacy, togeth- Mississippi constitutes a weak link in the U.S. er with its present manifestations and represen- bourgeois-democratic capitalist system. Al- tatives, make the majority Black populations in though capitalism thoroughly dominates social the Kush District acutely aware of their interests relations in Mississippi, and has done so at least and compelled to act upon them on all fronts since its inception as a colonial entity in the be- of social life. It is this combination of favorable ginning of the 19th century, the local practice of demographics, elevated political conscious- the system can best be described as a “contin- ness, and strong political mobilization that has gent” form of its expression. What makes it con- created the pre-conditions for our political ex- tingent is its overt dependency on a paternalis- periment. Add to this the fact that thousands of tic white supremacy. This dependency restricts Blacks are migrating back to Mississippi every and distorts the profit-motive that is central to year, and that despite all the reactionary and xe- the capitalist mode of production and tempers it nophobic initiatives of the Republican Party, a according to the needs of the forces of white su- growing immigrant population is driving demo- premacy—namely the local capitalist and elite graphic shifts that promise to make it a majority classes—to maintain social and political control non-white state over the next twenty years, and over the state, its peoples, and its resources. you can see why we characterize Mississippi as What this amounts to in practice is a severe re- a weak link in the chain.

A Short History of Black Resistance in Mississippi

People of African descent have a long history of exploitation, and white supremacy as they resistance against colonization, enslavement, have manifested themselves in the lands that

4 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

now comprise the state of Mississippi. One of mously challenged the Democrat’s “Dixiecrat” the earliest acts of resistance was the Natchez wing by attempting to seat delegates at the Rebellion of 1729, when an alliance of enslaved 1964 Democratic National Convention in At- Africans and Indigenous people from the Nat- lantic City, New Jersey. Despite its recent emer- chez Nation rebelled against French colonists. gence on the scene as an organized force, the Afterwards, countless enslaved Africans liber- MFDP immediately carried significant weight ated themselves and wound up marooned in in the Black community, primarily due to the the backwoods portion of the territory during historic struggles waged by Black activists to its early days as a French and Anglo colonial first gain entry to the party in the mid-1960s, possession. There were also numerous slave and then to assume majority control in the ear- rebellions throughout the antebellum period ly 1970s. The construction of an independent in Mississippi. political vehicle has ever since been a point of contention, with the principal challenge being After the Civil War, people of African descent how to address the hegemony of “Democratic organized independent communities, pur- Tradition” within the Black community. chased considerable portions of farm land, started businesses, and ran for and secured a From these struggles a tradition was born and considerable number of political offices in the has been nurtured over forty years. Emerging Reconstruction government. Even after the from this tradition are ongoing efforts both to defeat of Reconstruction and the imposition revitalize the MFDP as well as to build an inde- of the brutal Jim Crow apartheid regime, many pendent party. The work to revitalize the MFDP Black people continued to try to establish their is the stronger of the two initiatives, in large own communities, purchase farmland to live part due to its pre-existing infrastructure and independently, own their own business enter- credibility. More activists also view it as having prises, and exercise the right to vote under the greater strategic utility, as it enables work to be threat of constant terror. distinct from yet still part of the critical Demo- cratic Party primary system in Jackson. Given Resistance grew to levels unmatched since that Jackson is over 80% Black, and that nearly Reconstruction in the three decades follow- 99% of the Black community in the city and the ing World War II. This resistance reached its state are supporters of the Democratic Party, maximum expression during the 1960s, which the Democratic primary constitutes the “real” witnessed the public rise of Medgar Evers and election in Jackson, and it has served this pur- the National Association for the Advancement pose since at least 1993. For this reason, many of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the mil- activists don’t want to jettison the MFDP for itant campaigns of the Student Non-Violent something wholly new. Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Chris- As an attempt to bridge the history of the tian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and their MFDP with the radical political objectives that alliance in the Conference of Federated Orga- emerged out of the New Afrikan Independence nizations (COFO). Movement, the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, and the Revolutionary In the electoral arena, attempts by Blacks to Action Movement/African People’s Party— independently challenge and change our social which collectively gave birth to the New Afri- and political status go back to 1964 and the cre- kan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X ation, through COFO, of the Mississippi Free- Grassroots Movement—and in so doing build dom Democratic Party (MFDP). The MFDP fa- an independent party and political force, we

5 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

decided to support a city council and then ever, the short administration’s legacy is ma- mayoral election run by Chokwe Lumumba, a ny-fold. It includes the passage of a 1% sales human rights attorney and long-term revolu- tax to raise revenues to fix the city’s crumbling tionary organizer. infrastructure and keep its water system from being either regionalized—which would dilute Chokwe Lumumba first moved to Mississippi in Black political control—or privatized to maxi- 1971 to support the attempt of the Provisional mize the exploitation of a common good. It Government of the Republic of New Afrika to also includes the publication of the Jackson establish its capital in the state of Mississippi. Rising Policy Statement, a sweeping series of This effort was brutally suppressed by the Unit- public policy recommendations based on the ed States government in August 1971, and elev- People’s Platform that had brought Lumumba en of its leading activists were taken prisoners. to power. And finally, the administration’s leg- Chokwe became a lawyer in large part to defend acy includes the introduction of participatory and free these organizers, who became known democratic practices into municipal govern- nationally and internationally as the RNA-11. ment. After spending some years in Detroit and New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s, It did this in a number of ways, first by allow- Chokwe Lumumba returned to Mississippi to ing the city council to engage in all depart- build the New Afrikan People’s Organization mental planning sessions and participate di- and advance the development of a mass move- rectly in budgeting sessions, and by having ment through the Malcolm X Grassroots Move- weekly one-on-one meetings with each of the ment, which was founded in Jackson in 1990. seven council members. The Lumumba Ad- ministration also turned all major policy ques- Decades of organizing, base building, and forg- tions and decisions into “mass questions” and ing strategic alliances with a variety of forces “mass engagements.” On two major occasions in the city and state enabled us to start seri- the administration organized processes for ously considering Chokwe for political office in the general public to decide on major issues, the mid-2000s. The catalyst for this consider- both as an attempt to elicit mass support as ation was our analysis of the weakening of the well as to build a public culture of participato- power of Black people in the Gulf Coast region ry engagement as part of the political project (and nationally) following the devastation and of “democratizing American democracy.” The displacement wrought by Hurricane Katrina mass question and engagement approach in August 2005. After careful deliberation, our also served as a means of shifting the balance organizations devised the Jackson-Kush Plan of political power towards the Black working and organized Chokwe to run for city council in class. The more the class was engaged in ex- the fall of 2008. In the spring of 2009, we were ercising decision-making power, the more it able to elect Chokwe Lumumba to the Jackson eliminated the practice of governance as an City Council representing Ward 2 (followed by elite affair ruled by technocrats and the ser- the successful election of Hinds County’s first vants of capital. All of these practices were Black sheriff, Tyrone Lewis, in 2011). And in gaining momentum at the time of Chokwe’s June 2013, after nearly ten years of work, we death in February 2014. were able to make Chokwe Lumumba the may- or of Jackson, Mississippi. All of these practices were new to the city, and they have all subsequently been jettisoned by Unfortunately, the Lumumba Administration the new administration in an attempt to re- lasted only a little over seven months. How- store status quo power relations in the city.

6 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

Developing the Jackson Plan

The Jackson Plan was key to the rise of Mayor junctures even created tensions regarding its Lumumba, but electoral work is only one as- proper role. On more than one occasion the pect—albeit the most advanced—of what it strategic question has been raised: Is the As- represents. Originally crafted by the Malcolm sembly primarily designed to build “dual pow- X Grassroots Movement, the Jackson Plan is an er,” or is it rather a vehicle meant to nurture initiative for economic, political, and cultural and support progressive political candidates? self-determination. It emerged out of the 2005 The affirmative answer from the vast majority Jackson People’s Assembly, which in turn was of the Assembly’s base is that it must be a vehi- a response to the crisis of displacement and cle to exercise political power outside of elect- disenfranchisement that emerged in the after- ed office. However, the challenge to have it act math of Hurricane Katrina. The idea was to first in a manner that is contrary to the hegemonic build a solid base in Jackson—the state capital sway of electoral politics is a constant struggle. and largest city as well as the center of com- We will explore the People’s Assembly and its merce and mass media in Mississippi—which praxis in more detail below. would then enable us to more successfully branch out to the Kush and support allied forc- Particularly over the last year, with the launch of es there (hence the more ambitiously named Cooperation Jackson, the effort to build cooper- “Jackson-Kush Plan”). atives has become the major focus of the Jack- son Plan. The intention of Cooperation Jackson There are four interlocking components of the is to develop a solidarity economy that can, in Jackson Plan: 1) Building the People’s Assem- turn, further the broader struggle for economic bly; 2) Pursuing Political Office and Creating an democracy through community development Independent Political Vehicle; 3) Building Coop- and community ownership. Cooperation Jack- eratives; 4) Training a New Generation of Or- son is working to develop a cooperative network ganizers. Tremendous strides have been made that will consist of four interconnected and in- to advance each of these initiatives. However, terdependent institutions: an emerging federa- they have not all developed evenly or at the tion of local worker cooperatives, a cooperative same pace. As already discussed above, the incubator, an education and training center (the pursuit of political office is the initiative that Lumumba Center for Economic Democracy and has thus far advanced the furthest. Development), and a cooperative bank.

However, this pursuit would not have been Finally, since 2009 our broad efforts have facil- possible without having first built up the Peo- itated the development of scores of new orga- ple’s Assembly. Indeed, the greatest challenge nizers and activists, both young and old. This to the Assembly and its expansion has been component of the Jackson Plan has mostly been the almost non-stop run of electoral cam- interwoven through the other areas of our work. paigns our movement has engaged in since Perhaps for this reason, our plans to train and 2009. For considerable periods, significant sec- develop these new organizers have not always tions of the Assembly’s base have served as been as systematic or intentional as we would the organizing force driving the electoral cam- have liked. Securing adequate resources to de- paigns. At times this has challenged the stan- velop a school and training program, which we dard operations of the Assembly and at certain call the Amandla Project, has been a challenge

7 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

and a major reason why we have not been as allows the people of Jackson to exercise their successful in this arena as we intended. Capaci- agency, exert their power, and practice de- ty has also been a major challenge. Many of the mocracy—by which we mean “the rule of the organizers who have the experience, training, people, for the people, by the people”—in its and skill to serve as dynamic educators and broadest terms, entailing making direct deci- trainers have had to bottom-line other critical sions about the economic, social, and cultural areas of work on our agenda, and more often operations of our community, and not just the than not these initiatives have taken priority. contractual (“civil”) or electoral and legislative aspects of the social order (i.e., the limited After the passing of Mayor Lumumba, the Jack- realm of what is generally deemed to be “po- son People’s Assembly and the organic leader- litical”). The New Afrikan People’s Organiza- ship of the Jackson-Kush Plan determined that tion and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement being intentional about the development of started organizing assemblies in the late 1980s new cadres should be made a higher priority. to allow Black people to exercise self-determi- The rationale was that, since Chokwe’s experi- nation and exert their power. ence and skill as a leader could not be replicat- ed, we would have to “raise hundreds of new Beyond the definition provided above, a peo- Chokwe’s” to not only sustain but advance the ple’s assembly is first and foremost a mass initiative beyond our expectations and dreams. gathering of people organized and assembled The operationalization of this priority is now to address essential social issues and/or ques- being met by the development of a series of tions pertinent to a community. “Mass” can be organizing trainings that will be conducted at defined in numerous ways depending on one’s the Chokwe Lumumba Center for Economic views and position, but per our experiences we Democracy and Development and coordinated define it as a body that engages at least one-fif th by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the of the total population in a defined geographic MS Workers Center for Human Rights, the Mis- area (neighborhood, ward or district, city, state, sissippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, etc.). We have arrived at this one-fifth formula and MS One Voice. based on nearly 20 years’ experience of what it takes to amass sufficient numbers, social force, and capacity to effectively implement the de- Building and Sustaining the People’s cisions made by the Assembly and ensure that Assembly these actions achieve their desired outcomes. “Addressing essential social issues” means de- The underlying key to this whole experiment is veloping solutions, strategies, action plans, and to build a social movement that can success- timelines to change various socio-economic fully exploit the favorable socio-material con- conditions in a desired manner, not just hearing ditions in Jackson and throughout the Kush and/or giving voice to the people assembled. District, with the goal of catalyzing the main social forces to transform the oppressive and The Jackson People’s Assembly calls for and is exploitative social relations that define the cur- based upon a “one person, one vote” principle. rent social order. We emphasize that agency must be directly vested in individuals, regardless of whether The vehicle most critical to this transforma- the Assembly makes decisions through a vot- tive process, since the beginning, has been the ing process or some form of consensus. This People’s Assembly. The People’s Assembly is aspect of direct engagement, direct democra- a form of democratic social organization that cy, and individual empowerment is what sep-

8 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

arates a people’s assembly from other types ple’s Task Force, by the daily grinds (i.e., tending of mass gatherings or formations such as alli- to work, child care, health, and transportation ances or united fronts, in which a multitude of challenges, etc.). There have also been political social forces are engaged. challenges confronted over the past several years. The most significant challenge was ad- At present, the Jackson People’s Assembly op- justing to the mayoral term of Chokwe Lumum- erates at a mid-point between a constituent ba and how to relate to the office and the city and a mass assembly. A constituent assembly is government. Then there was the challenge of a representative body, not a direct democratic how to address the sudden loss of Mayor Lu- body of the people in their totality. This type of mumba and the counter-reaction to the peo- assembly is dependent on mass outreach, but ple’s movement that facilitated the election of it is structured, intentionally or unintentionally, Mayor Tony Yarber in April 2014. to accommodate the material (having to work, deal with childcare, etc.) and social limitations However, during times of crisis the Assembly (interest, access to information, political and tends to take on more of a mass character, such ideological differences, etc.) of the people. Our as following the passing of Mayor Lumumba in experience teaches us that the challenge with late February 2014 to defend the People’s Plat- this type of assembly is that it tends to become form (which was devised by the Assembly) and overly bureaucratic and stagnant over time if it many of the initiatives the Lumumba admin- doesn’t continue to work to bring in new people istration was pursuing to fulfill it. It should be (particularly youth), and if it is unable to main- noted, however, that even though the current tain the struggle to be mass in its character. practice in Jackson tends towards the constitu- ent model, the aim is to grow into a permanent A mass assembly is the purer example of a mass assembly. people’s democracy. It normally emerges during times of acute crisis, when there are More broadly, our Assembly has two broad profound ruptures in society. These types of functions and means of exercising power. The assemblies are typically all-consuming, short- first is to organize “autonomous,” self-organized lived entities. Their greatest weakness is that and executed social projects. Autonomous in they typically demand those engaged to give this context means initiatives not supported or all of their time and energy to the engagement organized by the government (state) or some of the crisis, which over time is not sustainable, variant of monopoly capital (finance, corpo- as people eventually have to tend to their daily rate, industrial, or mercantile). These types needs in order to sustain themselves. of projects range from organizing community gardens to forming people’s self-defense cam- As noted, the Jackson People’s Assembly prin- paigns; from housing occupations to forming cipally operates as a constituent assembly, workers unions to building worker coopera- engaging in a number of strategic campaigns, tives. On a basic scale these projects function from defending the 1% sales tax increase that as serve-the-people survival programs that was voted in by Jackson residents in January help our community to sustain itselves and 2014, to initiatives that provide support for acquire a degree of self-reliance. On a larger Cooperation Jackson to address the material scale these projects provide enough resourc- needs of our social base and to elevate its eco- es and social leverage (such as flexible time to nomic power. This is based primarily on the ma- organize) to allow people to engage in essential terial limitations imposed on the base and the fight-back or offensive (typically positional) ini- coordinating body of the Assembly, the Peo- tiatives.

9 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

The second means of exercising power is to ap- Although the authority of the Assembly is ply pressure on the government and the forces of expressed to its highest extent during mass economic exploitation in society. We exert pres- “events,” the real work of the Assembly, which sure by organizing various types of campaigns enables it to exercise its power, is carried out against these forces, including mass action through its organizing bodies and processes. (protest) campaigns, direct action campaigns, The People’s Task Force, together with various boycotts, non-compliance campaigns, and pol- committees and working groups, make up the icy shift campaigns (either advocating for or primary organizing bodies of the Assembly. against existing laws or proposed or pending These bodies execute the “work” of the Assem- legislation). bly—including outreach, networking, fundrais- ing, communications, intelligence gathering, In order to carry out these critical functions, trainings, and campaigning. In this model, the the Assembly must organize its proceedings to People’s Task Force serves as the principal co- produce clear demands, a coherent strategy, ordinating committee; it is directly elected by realistic action plans, and concrete timelines. the Assembly, serves at its will, and is subject It must also organize itself into units of imple- to immediate recall with due process. mentation, committee’s or action groups, to carry out the various assignments dictated by Committees are standing, meaning they are the strategy and action plans. regularly constituted bodies designed to deal with certain functions and/or operations of When considering these functions and how the Assembly. The basics include: Outreach they are executed In Jackson, it is critical to and Mobilization; Media and Communica- note that our model makes clear distinctions tions; Fundraising and Finance; and Security. between the Assembly as an “event,” the As- Working groups tend to be campaign or proj- sembly as a “process,” and the Assembly as ect-oriented bodies. They emerge and exist to an “institution.” As an event, the Assembly is accomplish certain time-delimited goals and where we take up general questions and is- objectives. Examples drawn from our experi- sues, and deliberate and decide on what can, ence include working groups that successfully should, and will be done to address them. As campaigned for the release of the Scott Sis- a process, the Assembly is where the more ters, forced the federal government to provide detailed questions of strategy, planning, and more housing aid to internally displaced per- setting concrete timelines, measurable goals, sons from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast fol- and deliverables are refined, to then be car- lowing Hurricane Katrina, and organized public ried out through the People’s Task Force and transportation workers in alliance with the As- the various committees and working groups of sembly to save JTRAN (Jackson’s Public Trans- the Assembly. As an institution, the Assembly portation) and provide its workers with higher is a product of the combined social weight of wages. All committees and working groups op- its events, processes, actions, and social out- erate on a volunteer principle, and they tend to comes. be formed on a self-selecting basis.

Engaging Power: the Administration of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba

To date, the most critical experience we have has been during the brief administration of accumulated in the realm of engaging power the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, which last-

10 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

ed just over seven months, from July 1, 2013, to or what many call “transitional demands,” February 25, 2014, when he passed away. Al- which attempt to address the contradictions though we were only able to move a mere frac- at their root. Doing this is easier said than tion of our electoral agenda during that time, done. But under the leadership of the New Af- we did gain a tremendous amount of experi- rikan People’s Organization and the Malcolm X ence about how to better “engage state power.” Grassroots Movement, we have been able to move consistently in this direction by engaging We say “engaging state power,” rather than in three key strategies in our electoral work. “wielding state power,” for two reasons. The first is that the capitalist and imperialist nature 1. Mass Education of the constitutional framework that defines the U.S. government as an institution limits the The key to our ability to make transitional de- agency of any individual office holder at every mands on a consistent basis is to constantly level of government. We have tried to drive engage in mass education work that makes di- this point home to the broader movement rect causal and structural links to national and time and time again by saying, “it should be international issues and how they are connect- clear that, at best, we won an election (refer- ed to local issues and realities. Making links to ring to Chokwe Lumumba’s mayoral victory), a national and international issues is vital, as it popularity contest. We did not win the ability demonstrates that the issues confronted by to control the government, just the temporary the people of Jackson are systemic, and not ability to influence its tactical affairs on a mu- just isolated local incidents. This understand- nicipal level.” ing that our local issues are expressions of systemic issues makes raising transitional de- Secondly, as an organization that is part of a mands much easier. The instruments central radical movement whose strategic aim is the to the success of our mass education work are decolonization of the southeastern portion of the radio, a print news bulletin, editorials in lo- the United States, pursuing an elected office cal allied newspapers and weekly’s, and social within the U.S. government has been viewed media. The People’s Assembly is also utilized by many of our historic allies as a means of as a vehicle of mass education. However, it legitimizing the powers-that-be. In remaining should be noted that it has taken nearly two consistent with the pursuit of self-determina- decades of consistent mass education work to tion and national liberation, our campaigns build the level and depth of social conscious- for any elected office within the U.S. constitu- ness that exists presently in Jackson. tional framework are conducted on a case-by- case basis and assessed on the potentiality of 2. Preparatory Battles the campaign’s and/or office’s ability to either create more democratic space or advance pol- One of the keys of our electoral success has icy pursuits that test the limits of structural been transferring victories from the social change. justice struggles to the electoral arena, and this requires picking key pre-electoral fights Given these limitations, it should be noted that that highlight the essential essence of our po- as “temporal” engagements, our electoral ini- litical platform and distinguish us from other tiatives have been attempts to bring to light candidates and political forces. We call these various social contradictions by making every preparatory battles. There are two key bat- critical issue a mass issue, and in so doing ask- tles that we can highlight from the period be- ing the people to demand structural solutions, tween 2009 and 2013 when Chokwe Lumum-

11 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

ba served as a city councilman. The first issue ture struggles. By educate we mean raise the was fighting to save Jackson’s public transpor- awareness and consciousness of the people. tation system and to expand its services and By instruct/prepare we mean that the battles increase the wages of its workers. This was not to advance these measures must build the only a fight against neoliberal austerity but a capacity and organizational strength of the battle to address an ongoing structural weak- people to engage in further fights and become ness in Jackson that served a broader public transformative agents. good. Jackson, like a lot of midsized Southern cities, has an inadequate public transporta- 3. Operational Fronts tion system. Most people have to own their own vehicles to get around, and in a city with Since the early 1990s, with the emergence of high concentrations of poverty, transportation the first formulation of the Jackson People’s costs can be exorbitant for an average worker Assembly, the New Afrikan People’s Organiza- making minimum or barely above minimum tion has been keen on building alliances and wage. This struggle also aided the elderly, who coalitions that are as operational as they are constitute a high percentage of the population, political. Operational here means that each or- and the disabled. This approach, of fighting a ganization in the front plays a designated role, proposed cut of a public good with a proposed and not just in the coalition but in the broader expansion of it, resonated with broad sectors arena of social struggle against white suprem- of the working class and highlighted key mate- acy, economic exploitation, and state violence. rial differences in our approach and concerns. Building an alliance or front in this manner helps to avoid unproductive competition with- The second issue was the passage of an ordi- in the movement and advance a division of nance against racial profiling. This ordinance labor that builds interdependent and vested was intentionally designed to address two re- relationships. It has also enabled us to devel- lated issues: the proposed adoption of policing op long-term and deep political commitments strategies that would further criminalize and to move beyond “least common denominator” imprison Black people; and other xenophobic platforms that are typical of alliances. The Peo- measures that were being proposed on a mu- ple’s Platform, which was developed in 2009 nicipal and state level to detain and deport un- under the leadership of the People’s Assembly documented immigrants. The measure forced and adopted by all of the strategic allies in our a conversation about the repressive nature various operational fronts, is the clearest ex- of the state, the need for “Black and Brown pression of the depth of these relationships. Unity,” and common unity of various commu- nities in fighting the forces of white suprema- A key to our Operational Fronts approach, cy in the surrounding counties and the state. which has further enabled us to pursue the The measure passed because of how it was mass-question approach of making transition- framed, galvanized working and professional al demands, has been the construction of three sectors in the Black, white, Latino, and immi- different but fundamentally inter-related bod- grant communities, and demonstrated that ies: the Popular Front, the United Front, and the they had common interests and common en- National Liberation Front. We conceive of the emies. From our vantage point, these prepara- Popular Front as a big tent in the fight against tory battles must not only help bring together white supremacy, fascist aggression, and oth- and build broad sectors of the community, but er forms of economic and social reaction. It is must also have the ability to educate, as well intentionally constructed as a multi-class and as instruct and/or prepare the masses for fu- multi-national (or racial) front that seeks to

12 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

address all of the aforementioned issues on ments and reinvestment requirements the basis of the highest level of unity possible. for corporations, commercial retailers, Meanwhile, the purpose of the United Front and developers wanting to do business in is to build and maintain strategic fields of en- Jackson. gagement with various social forces with bas- 5. Expand and modernize public transporta- es in the working class and involved in explicit tion systems in the city, including the sup- working-class struggles for jobs, higher wages, port for rail projects and renewable ener- better working conditions, and to counter the gy fleets. policies and strategies of mass repression and 6. Expand public health services, particularly incarceration employed to subjugate the work- guaranteeing access for residents to join ing class. It is critical to note that in Mississippi the programs of the Affordable Care Act most of these social forces are not unions or (which has largely been rejected by the worker centers, although both are represented state government since its inception). in the front, but rather churches and commu- 7. Expand the democratic scope of public nity organizations. Finally, the National Liber- education, particularly changing policy to ation Front is a multi-class front of New Afri- make school board positions elected rath- kan or Black forces focusing on the broad and er than appointed by the mayor. multi-facetted struggle for self-determination 8. Create strong community oversight of the for people of African descent. police through a control board with the power to subpoena, indict and fire officers Policies Pursued and Lessons Learned for misconduct or human rights violations. Directly related to this, we also sought to In terms of policy, in assuming that we would implement policies that de-criminalized occupy the mayoral office for one term at the marijuana possession and use to end one very least, we prioritized the pursuit of insti- aspect of the “war on drugs,” which has tuting transformative policies, as we deemed largely served as a war on the Black work- their impact would be the most enduring and ing class and produced the largest carceral enabling legacy of our administrative term. state on earth. During this term, we aimed to accomplish 9. Create policies to institutionalize participa- the passage and institutionalization of the tory budgeting, so as to be fully transpar- following: ent, better allocate resources, and deepen democracy on a significant scale. 1. Make Jackson a sustainable city centered 10. Institutionalize a Human Rights Charter on the production and use of renewable and Human Rights Commission to require energy sources and “zero waste” produc- the city to abide by international norms tion and consumption methods. and standards of conduct and policy out- 2. Support cooperatives and cooperative comes. development in the city, including but not limited to the creation of a cooperative in- All of these policies sought to institutionalize cubator in the city’s department of plan- certain aspects of the People’s Platform. The ning and development and the creation of aim of pursuing them was to create a more a cooperative start-up loan fund. sustainable city and more democratic space 3. Mandate strict local hiring policies for city in the municipality, to strengthen the organi- contract awards to insure greater equity. zation of the working class, to transform rela- 4. Enforce strong community benefit agree- tions of production, and to stop gentrification

13 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

and displacement. We believed that it was go- out sacrificing other standard expenditures ing to be possible to pass this entire legislative and critical programs, policies, and our over- agenda because of the strength and momen- all agenda. The truth is that we did not have tum of the People’s Assembly and the social an adequate answer to these questions. The forces it represented, together with the overall population at large and our social base partic- balance of power on the city council and be- ularly were adamant about not losing control tween the council and a mayor propelled by a over the system. But the administration was social movement.1 divided on how to save it and how to gener- ate the resources to do so, as were our allies Our administration’s main constraint, which and the social base itself. Trying to solve this ultimately occupied much of our time in of- riddle absorbed the overwhelming majority of fice, was a threatening consent decree forced the Lumumba Administration’s brief time and on the city by the Environmental Protection energy in office, in part because the threat was Agency in late 2012 to address its water quali- escalated by members of the Tea Party in the ty issues. Jackson has some of the worst water state legislature who introduced an emergen- quality of any midsize city in the country. The cy management bill modeled on a Michigan problem is Jackson’s antiquated water delivery law that would have allowed the state to take system. Most of the pipes in the “historic sec- over troubled municipalities. tion” of Jackson (built before the early 1960s) are made of copper and lead and are over 100 Our lack of clarity and differences of opinion on years old. This decree stipulates that the city these issues, coupled with our general inexpe- has 17 years (from 2012), with strict intermit- rience in governing, resulted in our administra- tent timelines of three, five, and ten years, to tion enacting a set of contradictory policies to complete an entire overhaul of the water de- address the issue. One set of policy decisions livery system or face severe penalties and the resulted in raised water rates, while another possibility of losing control over the ownership led to a 1% sales tax raise. It also compelled a and management of the system. It was esti- faction of our administration to pursue and en- mated in 2013 that the overall cost of this over- gage forces outside of our standard theory and haul would be at least $1billion. framework of practice in alliance building, be it tactical or strategic. Some members of our ad- The question this threat posed to our adminis- ministration started to appeal to and entertain tration was, first, how to generate the revenue advice and offers from transnational corporate to cover this expense and retain control of the engineering firms, on the advice of Frank Biden water system, and second, how to do it with- (brother of Vice President Joe Biden) and the Blue Green Consultant Group, to both repair 1 Jackson has seven electoral wards and seven city council- and finance our Consent Decree operations. persons. During the administration of Chokwe Lumumba there were five Black and two white councilpersons. Four The reasoning for this deviation was to explore of the Black councilpersons were solidly aligned with the creative ways to finance the water systems administration, and the fifth generally fell in line to not overhaul to retain the city’s control over it. look obstructionist or overly hostile and oppositional. One white councilperson was a member of the Dem- ocratic Party and viewed as liberal within the Jackson The end result of this confusion was that our context. She supported our agenda and voted in favor policies and actions alienated a critical portion of it as long as it didn’t overtly threaten the power and privileges of developers, who were key to her electoral of our base, particularly the elderly on fixed success. The other white councilperson typically voted incomes, for whom the water rate increases against anything we proposed on ideological grounds, as he was affiliated with the Tea Party faction of the Repub- created a degree of hardship without sufficient lican Party. explanation or significant enough relief. This

14 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

confusion and alienation proved to be cost- and between the leaders of the oppressed and ly for Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s subsequent the forces of the oppressor. mayoral run in early 2014 after his father’s un- timely death. The Chokwe Antar Lumumba Mayor- On the whole, we learned some hard lessons al Campaign during our brief seven months in office. The most critical lesson we learned is that our prac- Just as we were beginning to get a grip on the tice has to be as sound as our theory. While in governance process and starting to move our office, our practice of governance did not al- policy agenda through the city council, Mayor ways equate to our previous work of building Lumumba suddenly died. Following the pro- an alternate base of political power rooted in a tocols of the city’s charter, the city council ap- democratic mass movement. Capacity was our pointed an interim mayor and scheduled a spe- most critical challenge in this regard. Key mem- cial election for the mayor’s seat. The special bers in the administration, who had been cru- election was called for mid-April 2014, barely a cial to building the mass base of our democrat- month and a half after his death. ic experiment, often did not have the capacity to fully participate in the People’s Assembly or In order to continue advancing our agenda, the in other areas of the mass work, as they were base of our movement compelled Chokwe An- preoccupied with learning their new positions tar to run for mayor. However, the movement and the limits it entailed. did not have enough time to really reflect on the lessons learned from Mayor Lumumba’s Another key lesson we learned is that even a term, let alone collectively internalize them to relatively well-organized and mobilized mass refine its practice. As a result, the movement movement is seriously constrained by the did not adequately address all of the contradic- structural limits of capitalism, particularly in tions that had developed during the Lumumba its neoliberal form. Our movement was not Administration and led to the demobilization fully prepared, nor strong enough, to directly of a critical part of our base. Although Chok- confront the forces of capital so as to address we Antar made it to the run-off round of the our structural issue around the city’s water special election, and actually won a solid ma- management. The vast majority of our base jority of Black voters (officially 67%), he lost cringed at the notion of taxing corporations the election to City Councilperson Tony Yarber and the wealthy to pay for the system’s rede- by nearly 2,500 votes. In a city that is nearly velopment, primarily out of fear of driving off 80% Black, facts generally dictate that the per- what little industrial and commercial base of son who wins the Black majority vote wins the employers remaining in the city. The move- elections. The 2014 Special Election was an ex- ment settled instead for a piecemeal solution ceptional case, in that now-Mayor Tony Yarber in the form of the 1% sales tax, which has and only won 32% of the Black vote but secured an will increase the coffers of city government, overwhelming 90% of the city’s white minori- but will not provide nearly enough to pay for ty vote, which turned out at a record-breaking the full extent of the overhaul. This taught us rate of 75%. the extent to which we still have to go to edu- cate our base, strengthen the overall capacity Although the historic white voter turnout was of the movement, and avoid the many pitfalls crucial, the decisive factor was actually the low of neo-colonialism that are centered in unprin- Black voter turnout during this special election. cipled alliances amongst oppressed peoples The base did not turn out, plain and simple.

15 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

They sent us a clear message, and we are now ests and concerns over the concrete needs in the process of internalizing these lessons so of the working class. This contributed to we can continue to advance our critical exper- the demobilization experienced during the iment. April 2014 Special Election. 3. We need to focus on building new opera- This failed campaign to elect Chokwe Antar tional fronts. We are now recalculating and Lumumba sharpened the focus of several les- rebuilding our alliances in the wake of the sons from the Lumumba Administration that new conditions and regional alliances that we had not yet had the time to fully internalize, have been created by the forces of capital namely that: in response to our success in 2013. The main issue is how to build a new, more reli- 1. The process of mass education and in- able Popular Front in light of capital’s clear structional struggle is more important aim to split our previously existing alliances than holding office. During our brief period over questions of economic development. in office, we believed that the act of govern- ing was just as important as mass educa- In light of our mixed experiences engaging tion. We now believe decisively that mass state power, we are now focusing on internal- education and instructional struggle must izing and assimilating all of the lessons learned be primary. We have to constantly engage over the past two years to: A) rebuild and re- the base on all critical questions through- vitalize the People’s Assembly, and; B) engage out the entire process of any decision so in concentrated work on the front of economic that they understand all of the choices transformation via cooperative development and their implications to make sound and in the form of Cooperation Jackson. This is to agreed upon collective decisions. better prepare us for the next round of may- 2. The United Front and the National Liber- oral and city council elections in 2017, when we ation Front should take precedence over intend to again run Chokwe Antar Lumumba the Popular Front. During the latter part of for mayor, together with several other candi- the Lumumba Administration and Chok- dates determined by the People’s Assembly for we Antar’s campaign we over-emphasized council seats. appeals to the Popular Front, to the detri- ment of the United Front and the Nation- However, it should be noted that we have pri- al Liberation Front, so as to pass legisla- oritized building Cooperation Jackson during tive initiatives like the 1% sales tax. This this next period to strengthen the organiza- over-emphasis produced friction within tion of the working class, expand production in the United Front, as many workers felt that our city and region, and build a more coherent we were privileging petit bourgeois inter- movement for economic democracy.

Cooperation Jackson and the Struggle to Create Economic Democracy

Cooperation Jackson is an emerging vehicle for operation Jackson is working to develop a coop- sustainable community development, econom- erative network based in Jackson, Mississippi, ic democracy, and community ownership. Co- which will consist of four interconnected and

16 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

interdependent institutions: an emerging fed- racy, the foundations of solidarity eco- eration of local worker cooperatives, a develop- nomics, and the principles of cooperatives ing cooperative incubator, a cooperative educa- and how worker-owned and self-managed tion and training center (the Lumumba Center enterprises benefit workers, their families, for Economic Democracy and Development), and their communities. and a cooperative bank or financial institution. 4. An institutional vehicle to educate and train working people to successfully start, The broad mission of Cooperation Jackson is finance, own, democratically operate, and to advance the development of economic de- self-manage a sustainable cooperative en- mocracy in the city through building a solidar- terprise. ity economy anchored by a network of coop- 5. A model that will encourage and enable eratives and other types of worker-owned and workers in other cities and municipalities democratically self-managed enterprises. in Mississippi, the South, and throughout the United States to implement their own Economic democracy provides economic em- initiatives to promote economic democra- powerment for all workers, distributors, sup- cy, solidarity economics, and cooperative pliers, consumers, communities, and the gen- development. eral public by promoting universal access to common resources and democratizing the Cooperative businesses are unique from oth- ownership of the means of production as well er types of commercial enterprises in that they as the essential processes of production and exist to meet the needs of people, not to max- distribution through worker self-management imize profits. They are often formed as a way and sustainable consumption. to address the unmet needs of working peo- ple—be they producers, workers, consumers, Solidarity economy includes a wide array of or purchasers—and to provide them with the economic practices and initiatives that share goods, services, cultural engagement, demo- common values—cooperation and sharing, cratic rights, and political autonomy needed social responsibility, sustainability, equity to live fully empowered lives. Cooperatives and justice. Instead of enforcing a culture of put capital in the service of working people, cutthroat competition, it builds cultures and rather than making working people subser- communities of cooperation. Our purpose is to vient to capital. They do this, in their various create: forms, by:

1. A network of interconnected and inter- ⇒⇒ Democratizing the processes of produc- linked cooperatives and worker-owned tion, distribution, and consumption; enterprises that will expand economic ⇒⇒ Equitably distributing the surpluses pro- opportunity, promote sustainability and duced or exchanged; build community wealth by creating jobs with dignity, stability, living wages, and ⇒⇒ Creating economies of scale; quality benefits. ⇒⇒ Increasing bargaining power; 2. A foundation for the revitalization of work- ⇒⇒ Sharing costs for new technology; ing-class communities based on stable em- ⇒⇒ Gaining access to new markets; ployment, wealth equity, and sustainable ⇒⇒ Reducing individual market risks; means of production and distribution. ⇒⇒ Creating and obtaining new services; 3. An institutional vehicle to promote broad ⇒⇒ Purchasing in bulk to achieve lower prices; public understanding of economic democ- ⇒⇒ Providing credit under reasonable terms.

17 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

Cooperatives and other forms of worker-owned my are only interested in short-term gains and enterprises or community collectives have a maximizing profits, not in producing quality long history in Mississippi, particularly within high-paying jobs for working people. If we are the Afrikan community as an institutional part going to secure the jobs and resources needed of the struggle for self-determination, eco- to live with the full complement of our human nomic justice, and democratic rights. Cooper- rights, we believe we must do two things: first, ation Jackson draws deeply from this history of create cooperative economic enterprises and struggle and the well of inspiration and knowl- institutions that serve our own needs and in- edge it produced. We draw on the inspiration terests; and second, create and/or support so- provided by democratic leaders like Fannie cial movements struggling for economic justice Lou Hamer and her work to build the Freedom and democracy against the narrow interests of Farm Cooperative. We are also deeply inspired multinational corporations and the increasing- by the history and work of the Federation of ly ineffective and unsustainable policies of the Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund. national governments that define our modern This Federation, amongst others, laid the foun- world. dations for the broader initiative to build a dy- namic cooperative and democratic economy in Jackson. Cooperation Jackson’s Sustainable Communities Initiative Building on these foundations, Cooperation Jackson is seeking to accomplish a major break- Cooperation Jackson’s primary initiative is the through for the cooperative movement in the Sustainable Communities Initiative, or SCI. SCI South by becoming the first major network is a place-based strategy intended to transform of predominately worker cooperatives to be a neighborhood in West Jackson by creating an established in an urban area. While it will un- Eco-Village, which will ultimately provide coop- doubtedly take years, if not decades, for Coop- erative housing that is permanently affordable eration Jackson to consolidate itself and grow as well as operational space for several coop- to scale, we believe we possess the potential to erative enterprises and institutions to create a become the Mondragón or Emilia-Romagna of mutually reinforcing and self-sustaining mar- the United States, and in the process to trans- ket ecosystem, supply chain, and network of form the lives of working-class Jacksonians. associated producers or worker-owners. The Eco-Village will be protected by a community The question thus arises: How can we address land trust (CLT ), a nonprofit corporation that these systemic and structural problems? How develops and stewards affordable housing, can we take proactive, self-determined action community gardens, civic buildings, commer- to meet our needs and improve the lives of cial spaces and other community assets on be- Jacksonians? Cooperation Jackson believes that half of a community. the core answer is a long-term strategy of co- ordinated social action led by working people West Jackson is the working-class gateway to to create economic democracy and a solidarity Downtown Jackson, which is the heart of the economy via the development of cooperative state government of Mississippi. Over the past enterprises specializing in sustainable means 30 plus years, West Jackson has suffered from of production and distribution. rapid capital flight and divestment, driven in large part by white flight. Since the late 1970s The multinational corporations that dominate West Jackson has become a Black working-class the regional, national, and international econo- community, with high concentrations of pover-

18 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

ty. Since the late 1980s large parts of West Jack- anticipating the long-term profits that can be son have become dilapidated and abandoned. drawn from them, speculators and developers It is now estimated that there are over 1,832 are rapidly moving in on West Jackson due to vacant lots and 832 abandoned structures out its strategic location, accessibility, and cheap of a total of 6,748 lots in the community, with real estate values. approximately 41% of total parcels in the com- munity unused. The community has an esti- None of these elite-driven developments are mated 13,890 people, of which 92% are Black. designed to incorporate the existing popula- tion living in West Jackson. This is where Co- Four major real estate and economic initiatives operation Jackson and the Sustainable Com- developing adjacent to West Jackson are driv- munities Initiative come into the picture. Co- ing speculative pressures on the community operation Jackson is not averse to economic and confronting it with the threat of gentrifi- development, of which West Jackson, and cation and race and class-based displacement. many other Black working-class communities The four development initiatives are the Med- throughout the city are in desperate need. ical Corridor (driven by the University of Mis- However, Cooperation Jackson is committed sissippi and funded by the state government), to sustainable, community driven and con- the One Lake Redevelopment initiative (driven trolled development without displacement. by Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce and We firmly believe that the existing community proposed in “Plan 2022”), the development of must equitably benefit from the new devel- a new sports stadium for Jackson State Univer- opments that are being planned, and that the sity athletics (driven by the destruction of the community should be able to self-determine old stadium in the previously stated Medical and execute its own community revitaliza- Corridor development area), and downtown tion and wealth building initiatives. The Sus- real estate speculation fueled by various pet- tainable Communities Initiative is one of the rochemical companies seeking to expand their few bottom-up development initiatives in lobbying and business operations in the state Jackson. The initiative is being driven by the capital. Each initiative is in a different stage of membership of Cooperation Jackson through development, but all have dedicated and com- extensive community outreach, but its foun- mitted funding streams and widespread sup- dations were laid by the long-standing orga- port amongst local elites. nizing efforts of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the Jackson People’s Assem- The primary force compelling this speculation bly. The Sustainable Communities Initiative’s is the Medical Corridor. Its expansion provides success will mitigate the displacement of the the economic conditions that enable and drive Black community of West Jackson and create the other developments. Over the course of an array of eco-friendly and worker and com- the next decade, the corridor’s expansion will munity-owned cooperative businesses and provide hundreds of short-term construc- institutions that will be accessible to the long- tion jobs and thousands of long-term jobs in standing and potentially also new residents of the medical and medical support fields. All of West Jackson. We will accomplish the afore- these new doctors, nurses, technicians and mentioned outcomes by establishing the fol- other support and spin-off workers will need lowing institutions: places to live. Many will want to avoid long suburban commutes and have easy access 1. Community Land Trust (CLT). Cooperation to various living amenities and opportunities Jackson will purchase a number of vacant for entertainment. Knowing these needs and lots, abandoned homes, and commercial

19 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

facilities primarily in West Jackson and cur- three miles to access quality produce, fruits, rently owned by the State of Mississippi, and meats. the City of Jackson, and private owners, and organize them into a community land The Eco-Village seeks to radically alter the trust. The purpose of holding them in a quality of life in West Jackson over the course trust is to ensure that they are removed of the next decade by increasing and improv- from the speculative market and dedicat- ing the housing stock, creating quality living ed for sustainable communal endeavors. wage jobs, and servicing essential energy, 2. Community Development Corporation (CDC). food, and entertainment needs. The basic goal Cooperation Jackson will create a commu- of the Eco-Village is quality cooperative hous- nity development corporation to help de- ing that is green and affordable. In its broadest velop new low-income housing to sustain dimensions it will contain a significant portion working-class communities and affordable of the Freedom Farms Urban Farming Cooper- commercial facilities to support the de- ative, which will provide a significant number velopment of cooperative enterprises in of quality jobs, house our child care coopera- Jackson. tive, a worker and consumer grocery cooper- 3. Housing Co-operative. Cooperation Jack- ative, and a comprehensive arts and culture son will turn a significant portion of the entertainment complex owned and managed land and properties acquired and held by by the Nubia Lumumba Arts and Culture Co- the CLT into an “Eco-Village” housing co- operative. operative. The housing cooperative will provide quality affordable housing and The Eco-Village will also be an integrated “liv- stable rents to help sustain and build vi- ing-systems” community. Per the terms of brant working-class communities in Jack- “cooperative living” that we are adopting and son. It will also create a significant degree developing, all of the residents of the housing of its own energy and waste management cooperative will participate in the village’s re- infrastructure to ensure that it can more cycling and composting programs that will cre- effectively and efficiently utilize alternative ate a stable protected market for recycling and sources of energy and eliminate waste by urban farming cooperatives. In addition, all of creating a comprehensive “zero-waste” re- the houses will primarily operate off solar en- cycling program. ergy and be connected to an internal energy grid that will foster energy efficiency and sus- The Eco-Village is in the heart of the “gateway” tainability throughout the village. section of West Jackson. This community is sit- uated in Municipal Ward 3 and is populated by Our anchor point for all of this is the Lumumba an estimated eight thousand people, the over- Center for Economic Democracy and Develop- whelming majority of whom are Black working ment, located at 939 W. Capitol Street, Jackson, class people. The community is almost exclu- MS 39203. The Lumumba Center is in the heart sively a bedroom community, with few em- of the West Jackson community where Coopera- ployment opportunities at present. The largest tion Jackson is targeting to establish the Eco-Vil- employers in the community are Jackson State lage. The Lumumba Center will serve as the University and Jackson Public Schools. Vast organizing base for the SCI and the overall ad- tracks of this community, as previously not- ministrative operations of Cooperation Jackson. ed, are either vacant or dilapidated and aban- The Lumumba Center is close to 6,000 square doned. The community is also in a food desert, feet, possesses a restaurant-grade kitchen, and with residents typically having to travel two to is accompanied by a back lot of over ¾ of an acre

20 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

of land, which will be used to support the urban Human Rights City Campaign farming and recycling cooperatives. This campaign is an initiative to establish a The Lumumba Center will serve as the base Human Rights Charter for the City of Jack- of operations and production for the Nubia son in pursuit of greater protections that fa- Lumumba Arts and Culture Cooperative. The cilitate more equitable social relations for its Arts and Culture Cooperative centers the cul- residents. A Human Rights Commission would tural work of Cooperation Jackson, including its enforce the Human Rights Charter and its work in mass communications, issue framing statutes. The Charter would be based on a and popular education, which are key to social people-centered analysis of all of the essen- movements creating transformative counter- tial covenants, conventions, and treaties that hegemonic narratives. The Arts and Cultural comprise the human rights framework, includ- Cooperative conducts regular programming ing the International Covenant on Economic, out of the Lumumba Center, including cultural Social and Cultural Rights. The commission events (public lectures, hip hop, spoken word, we envision would first and foremost create and art exhibits), production sessions (films, a “Police Control Board,” an elected body that music, and visual arts), and art and wellness would have the right to monitor, subpoena, trainings (production classes, art trainings, and indict police officers for gross misconduct physical fitness, martial arts, yoga). and constitutional and human rights abuses. The commission would also have committees As part of our commitment to developing “new or councils that would develop policies and and sustainable” forms of economic activity programs to fully address all of the afore- and social living that will enable and support mentioned issue areas based on international a Just Transition from the extractive economy, norms and standards, including: a) Rights of Cooperation Jackson is committed to ensuring Mother Earth; b) People of African Descent; that the Lumumba Center will be one of the c) Indigenous Peoples; d) Historically Dis- “greenest” buildings and business operations criminated Minorities; e) Immigrant Rights; f) in Jackson. In line with our vision of sustainabil- Workers Rights; g) Housing Rights; h) Women’s ity, we will utilize as much of the surface area Rights; i) Children’s Rights; j) LGBTQI Rights; k) of the building as possible for the production Disability Rights; l) Religious Protections; and of solar energy. We will also weatherize and m) Cultural Rights. retrofit the Center to reduce energy and water consumption. We intend to make the Lumum- Clean Community Energy ba Center a practical and living model of sus- tainability to set a new standard for business Cooperation Jackson’s campaign to make Jack- operations in Jackson. son one of the most sustainable cities in the world is a localized attempt to transition the city away from the extractive economy. It is A Just Transition in Service of Sus- also working to make Jackson a leader in the tainable Communities production of sustainable energy, via solar and wind power generation, which will compel a In support of and in addition to the Sustain- scaling down of the extractive economy. We able Communities Initiative, we are also push- are currently engaged in a public relations ed- ing the following policy and programmatic de- ucation campaign to get Entergy (the municipal mands to help facilitate a Just Transition in the energy company) to follow through on prelim- City of Jackson. inary agreements it made with Mayor Chok-

21 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

we Lumumba’s administration to institute a marily concentrated in West Jackson, to create broad program of solar conversion. We are a comprehensive urban farming operation also engaged in a campaign to have the City of that will provide and sustain dozens of liv- Jackson take the lead on the creation of clean ing wage jobs over time. Freedom Farms will energy by dedicating its buildings and vacant start operations at the Lumumba Center and lands towards the production and distribution on several of the vacant lots in West Jackson of solar energy. Accompanying this as a mod- being acquired by Cooperation Jackson that el, Cooperation Jackson is going to ensure that will be held in the CLT. The farming operation the Eco-Village starts on the basis of drawing will start with hoop house and raised bed pro- 50%, and gradually all of its energy, from re- duction and hydro, aquaponic, and aeroponic newable sources, primarily solar energy. We farming in some of the commercial facilities are also in the process of creating a “clean en- held in the CLT in West Jackson. The objective ergy” division of our Construction Cooperative of the urban farming cooperative is to supply that will specialize on building and installing Jackson with high quality foods (vegetables, solar panels for affordable community use. We fruits, fish, and poultry) at affordable prices are working with the Mississippi Association and to create sustainable, living wage jobs for of Cooperatives (MAC) and the Federation of Jacksonians. It will also help to address one of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund the other major social needs of Jackson: af- (FSC/LAF) on a campaign to get the numerous fordable and easily accessible healthy foods to utility cooperatives in Mississippi to institute a end our food deserts and address the chron- broad program of solar energy conversion and ic health issues that particularly plague Black production in the rural portions of the state. people (ranging from obesity and diabetes Finally, a joint study group of Cooperation Jack- to hypertension and chronic heart disease). son and the People’s Assembly are developing Freedom Farms will serve this need by estab- a strategy and campaign to challenge and end lishing several neighborhood-based farmers fracking in the state of Mississippi, which is markets to provide affordable produce and being aggressively pursued by Governor Phil fish to transportation-challenged residents Bryant and a host of state-based and trans- in low-income communities. We will also seek national petrochemical companies. to address this need by becoming a primary supplier of quality organic produce to the Jack- Zero Waste son public school system, in addition to the grocery and convenient stores that serve low- Cooperation Jackson’s Recycling Cooperative income communities. focus is actively engaged in a public educa- tion campaign and a dialogue process with Efficient, Affordable Durable Housing the new mayoral administration and anchor institutions to maintain the political and policy Cooperation Jackson is in the process of cre- commitments of the administration of Chokwe ating permanently affordable and energy effi- Lumumba to move the City of Jackson towards cient housing in Jackson via our housing coop- becoming a “zero waste” city. erative organizing effort. With the support of some of the other coops in Cooperation Jack- Regional Food Systems son, the housing cooperative will start by en- suring that each house is LEED approved and Cooperation Jackson’s Freedom Farms Urban draws 50% or more of its energy from solar Farming Cooperative plans to build a network energy. Each house will also have water catch- of farming plots throughout Jackson, but pri- ment and efficiency systems, and will be inte-

22 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

grated into a zero waste resource regeneration antiquated storm drain system. Eliminating (recycling) program. The housing cooperative this type of dumping will help the city better is part of Cooperation Jackson’s Sustainable clean the sledge that currently clogs and con- Communities Initiative, detailed above. We are taminates the drainage system, and help elim- also engaged in a campaign to ensure that the inate the production of toxic sludge within it. City of Jackson remains committed to the de- The leaves, grass, and organic waste that are velopment of more affordable and energy and currently dumped into the system by numer- resource efficient housing, as envisioned and ous inhabitants can be recycled and reused as advanced by the mayoral administration of organic compost to support local farmers and Chokwe Lumumba. restore the depleted topsoil of the Mississippi Delta region. Ecosystem Restoration & Stewardship As should be clear from this presentation, Co- Cooperation Jackson plans for its urban farm- operation Jackson has made some significant ing and resource regeneration (recycling) co- advances in its relatively brief history, based operatives to engage in joint ecosystem stew- on the foundations laid by the People’s Assem- ardship initiatives. We are particularly looking bly and the Lumumba Administration. Next to support work protecting the wetlands in to the People’s Assembly, it is now the tip of and around Jackson by launching a citywide the spear in our offensive engagements to ad- campaign to end organic refuse into the city’s vance the Jackson-Kush Plan.

By Way of Conclusion

I opened this study by noting that the fun- movement does not have the backing of any damental aim of this experiment is to attain of the local or regional sources of finance cap- power. It is clear from this retelling and by ital. Virtually all of these sources are opposed looking at our movement’s most recent victo- to major aspects of our program and avidly ry—a resolution passed by the city council to supported our opponents in the most recent institute a process to make Jackson a Human election. And by all indications, the harder we Rights City, with a Human Rights Charter and push and the more we advance, the more de- Commission—that we have had and continue termined they become to hinder if not com- to experience small “tastes of power.” But the pletely arrest our development. road to social liberation is long, windy, and of- ten treacherous. A lot is now riding on the success of Coopera- tion Jackson. If it succeeds—if only in launch- With our shift towards building Cooperation ing two or three viable cooperatives within the Jackson following the defeat of Chokwe Antar next two years—it will serve as proof positive Lumumba, our biggest challenge is to secure that our vision is attainable. Should it seriously enough resources and capital to build the or- struggle or fall short, it may reinforce the cap- ganization and finance our initial start-ups. italist narrative that “there is no alternative,” Although this is a challenge for all new coop- and that any and all efforts to produce social eratives, it is particularly acute for us, as our equity via collective processes are bound to

23 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

fail. After decades of combating self-hate, in- adoption of our demand for a National Plan of dividualism, consumerism, and the ethos of Action for Racial Justice and Self-Determina- “get rich or die trying”—and attaining some tion. Our challenge is to transform all of this success—we cannot afford to go even one step interest and enthusiasm into a national and backwards. So the pressure is on, and we are international network of support that will help stuck between something of a rock and a hard us advance the Jackson-Kush Plan and contin- place, given our current financial limitations. ue to build the transformative movements of As such we are going to have to be innovative our age—from Occupy Wall Street to #Black- and creative to survive and thrive, to say the LivesMatter. least. But we are busy looking for national and international allies to make strategic commit- Unfortunately we do not possess a crystal ball ments to support us in overcoming the chal- to indicate where we will ultimately land. De- lenge of accessing capital and other resources. spite that, our collective confidence has grown through this experience as we have witnessed At the same time, we are encouraged by how time and time again something that Mayor Lu- much national and international attention our mumba often stressed, that “a movement that work has received. The “Jackson Rising: New secures the love and confidence of the people Economies Conference” that we hosted in May has no bounds.” We are still very much making 2014 has drawn praise as one of the most in- the road by walking, and we are certain that fluential and inspirational conferences in de- we are still headed down the right path. We cades as relates to solidarity economics and believe that our experiences and contributions economic democracy in the United States. Our are worth learning from, and we hope that oth- People’s Assembly model has been adopted ers engaged in the struggle to liberate humani- by many of the forces involved in the grow- ty will welcome them in the spirit in which they ing Ferguson Resistance/Black Lives Matter are shared: that of unity and struggle. movement, as well as our people-centered human rights agenda, best expressed by the Stay tuned!

Related Studies

Energy Democracy in Greece SYRIZA’s Program and the Transition to Renewable Power By Sean Sweeney - January 2015

Lift the Load of Poverty Fighting for Black Equality in the Age of Obama By James Jennings - July 2013

Demand Everything Lessons of the Transformative Organizing Model By Steve Williams - March 2013 www.rosalux-nyc.org 24 KALI AKUNO CASTING SHADOWS

Recent Publications

When Pigs Fly Charting a New Course for U.S.-Cuban Relations By William M. LeoGrande and Jenny Morín Nenoff - February 2015

TPP and TTIP: Partners in Crime Fighting the Corporate “Trade” Agenda in the United States By Mike Dolan - January 2015

Climate Change and the Great Inaction New Trade Union Perspectives By Sean Sweeney - September 2014

Who Cares ? A Feminist Critique of the Care Economy By Nancy Folbre - August 2014

Coming in from the Cold The Black German Experience, Past and Present By Marion Kraft - July 2014

In Whose Name ? A Critical View on the Responsibility to Protect By Lou Pingeot and Wolfgang Obenland - May 2014

Democracy Disregarded How the Decay of Meaningful Elections Drives Inequality and Injustice By John Nichols - April 2014

Self-Determination, Not Termination Past, Present, and Future of the American Indian Movement By Walter R. Echo-Hawk - January 2014

More Than Just a Game Champions for Justice in U.S. Sports By Dave Zirin - October 2013

The Unfinished Dream The March on Washington and the Radical Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. By Albert Scharenberg - August 2013

25 GLOBAL NETWORK OF ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG OFFICES

NORTH AMERICA AND UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS SOUTHEAST ASIA New York City/USA Berlin/Germany Hanoi/Vietnam Directors: Dr. Stefanie Ehmsen and President: Dr. Dagmar Enkelmann Director: Nadja Charaby Dr. Albert Scharenberg Executive Director: Dr. Florian Weis Website: www.rosalux.vn Website: www.rosalux-nyc.org Website: www.rosalux.de SOUTH ASIA MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA AND CUBA EUROPEAN UNION New Delhi/India Mexico City/Mexico Brussels/Belgium Director: Dr. Carsten Krinn Director: Torge Löding Director: Dr. Klaus Sühl Email: [email protected] Website: www.rosalux.org.mx Website: www.rosalux-europa.info NORTH AFRICA ANDEAN REGION EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE Tunis/Tunisia Quito/Ecuador Warsaw/Poland Director: Peter Schäfer Director: Dr. Miriam Lang Director: Dr. Joanna Gwiazdecka Email: [email protected] Website: www.rosalux.org.ec Website: www.rls.pl WEST AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA SOUTHEAST EUROPE Dakar/Senegal São Paulo/Brasil Belgrade/Serbia Director: Dr. Claus-Dieter König Director: Gerhard Dilger Director: Dr. Boris Kanzleiter Website: www.rosalux.sn Website: www.rls.org.br Website: www.rosalux.rs EAST AFRICA PALESTINE RUSSIA, CENTRAL ASIA AND CAUCASUS Dar Es Salaam/Tanzania Ramallah Moscow/Russia Director: Siegfried Schröder Director: Dr. Katja Hermann Director: Tiina Fahrni Email: [email protected] Website: www.rosaluxemburg.ps Website: www.rosalux.ru SOUTHERN AFRICA ISRAEL EAST ASIA Johannesburg/South Africa Tel Aviv Beijing/China Director: Dr. Armin Osmanovic Director: Dr. Angelika Timm Director: Dr. Lutz Pohle Website: www.rosalux.co.za Website: www.rosalux.co.il Email: [email protected]

Website: www.rosalux-nyc.org Facebook: rosaluxnyc Twitter: @rosaluxnyc