What is the situation in Jackson you are stepping into? What forces in Mississippi are aligned against you?The primary force of opposition against us is the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is dominated by white businessmen, almost none of whom live in Jackson proper. They live in the white suburbs that were constructed to accommodate white flight. Jackson is still a city where a large portion of its businesses remain in the hands of a small white minority elite.Jackson is over 80 percent Black. Most of that, overwhelmingly, is Black working class. That includes sectors where the real unemployment rate is closer to 50 percent of the adult population. Wages are extremely low; if you are making $10 an hour here you are doing damn good. That would be damn near a Black middle-class wage here in Jackson.The Black community, by its numbers, can put people in office but their ability to govern can be constrained because the economic base of the city is controlled elsewhere. One of the threats is if you elect Chokwe Antar, all these white-owned businesses are going to leave town. What that does is shrink the tax base, the revenues to operate. That is pointing a gun at the city and saying you have to go this way for the economy not to collapse. For the community to consistently vote in a way that says “Yeah, I know that gun is to my head and I’m going to vote this way anyway” says a lot.The Chamber is not making idle threats. They have concrete plans to gentrify the city, to displace the Black working class, because if they can change the population dynamics they can eliminate the possibility of a radical like Chokwe Antar from being elected.
Wow. If anything, the Chamber has been fairly quiet in city politics over the last few years. The business community has been divorced from city government since the days of Harvey Johnson. The only concrete plans to gentrify anything is when a developer such as Chapman goes into an area and builds some nice affordable homes that improve the area. However, some pigs aren't happy unless they are living in slop.
What is funny is that Akuno thinks there is some grand conspiracy by some modern-day version of the Citizens Council. However, if he had bothered to look at the Chamber, he might have actually discovered that blacks are actually members of the organization.
The current Chairman of the Board of Directors is black. I know, it's hard to believe but it's true. His name is Robert Gibbs and here is his picture:
Then there is Chairwoman Emeritus La'Verne Edney:
She looks pretty black. Don't forget Tony Gaylor as well. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors:
He is actually a member of 100 Black Men. Imagine. Then there is the actual Board of Directors. The members and the pictures of the Black directors are posted below:
2017 Board of Directors
Freddie Bagley
Community Bancshares of MS
Alon Bee
Regions Bank
Dr. Freda Bush
East Lakeland OBGYN Assoc.
Jason Duren
BancorpSouth
Jim Defoe
Ergon
Steve Dobbs
Merit Health
Ted Duckworth
Duckworth Realty
La'Vern Edney
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell
Nathan Edwards
The Clarion Ledger
David Gates
Atmos Energy
Tony Gaylor
Chambers & Gaylor Law Firm
Robert Gibbs
Gibbs Travis, PLLC
Jeff Good
Magnia Bene
Ed Gardner
Entergy Mississippi
Rodney Grogan
MMC Materials, Inc.
Claude Harbarger
St. Dominic Health Services
Andrew Jenkins
AJA Management & Technical Services
DeJonnette King
Advanced Environmental Consultants
Johnny Maloney
Cowboy Maloney Electric City Supercenter
Meade Mitchell
Butler Snow
Joseph Moss
BancorpSouth
Carl Newman
Jackson Municipal Airport Authority
Duane O’Neill, President
Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership
Ben Pace
CSpire Wireless
Rob Pearigen
Millsaps College
Hastings Puckett
Puckett Machinery
Michael Reddix
Reddix Medical Group
James Rigney
Pruet Companies
Philip Shirley
Godwin Group
Donna Sims
BankPlus
Mike Stevens
Baptist Health Systems
Lynne Green
Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC
Granville Tate
Trustmark National Bank
Michael Thomas
Jackson State University
Reginald Thompson
Thompson Wealth Advisors
Lee Vance
City of Jackson
Kevin Van de Ven
Nucor Steel
Jason Walton
Jackson Prep
Primus Wheeler
Jackson Medical Mall Foundation
Jamie Woods Dull
J. Woods Public Relations
Dr. LouAnn Woodward
University Mississippi Medical Center
Camille Scales Young
Cornerstone Government Affairs
Do these people know they are white supremacists or is Brother Kali shooting off his mouth without knowing what he is talking about again?
One suspects that he probably knows nothing about economics. What he terms business white flight is businesses leaving because the roads are crumbling, the criminal justice system is askew, permits are a bitch to obtain, and they pay the highest taxes. The government too often ignores them and when it does pay attention to them, it does so only to make life tougher for them.
One must wonder if this is how the incoming Lumumba administration truly sees the business community of Jackson.
27 comments:
Chokwe Sr put Akuno on the City payroll.
Chokwe Sr never, and Chokwe Jr has never, disavowed Akuno, his self-positioning as their closest advisor and spokesperson nor his comments.
Akuno is to the Lumumbas as Bill Ayers is to Obama.
"The government too often ignores them and when it does pay attention to them, it is done so only to make life tougher for them."
Yup.
With the election of Chokwe v2.0, expect more of this racr-baiting.
Akuno is the personification of the phrase, "The Big Payback".
That was not an accidental title.
Ok, so they may be black...but are they black enough (I understand that there is some sort of rating scale)??
Thank GOD I'm outta Jacktown!
I sold to a black & took a $40,000.00 LOSS.
By moving here's what I saving.
________________________________
Pearl Corp Limits Jacktown
Property Tax $ 1,300.00 $ 2400.00 yr.
Water/Sewer25.00x12= 300.00 150x12 1800.00 yr.
Auto Tag $ 200.00 $ 600.00 yr.
Homeowner Ins $ 1600.00 $ 1900.00 yr.
---------------------------------------------
Total $ 3400.00 $ 6700.00 yr.
Savings per yr. $ 3300.00
Move people move! Just going to decay.
You can hate this guy for his tact.....but what he is saying about jobs is fundamentally true from a numbers perspective.
That is not to say there is a causative relationship but...there is a disconnect.
There is no singular person "at fault."
We must learn to live together peacefully before we can move forward.
Jeff Good is a pompous arrogant control freak.....but he does take time to demonstrate business concepts to kids of all colors.
We need more involvement like that (minus his duplicitous ways) so we can stand together.
----now back to reality and your regularly scheduled murders
2:56 You moved from Jackson to Pearl? Is that the best you could do?
GJCC is nothing. Once about 25 years ago it was the CC for the city of Jackson but started trying to be the Metro chamber without any Metro support. Also just left Jackson without a real Chamber.The Metro locals have their own Chambers which they all support.All GJCC is a highly paid CEO with some kind of insurance program.
I'm white and moved my 40 year old business out of Jackson 5 years ago (my office was on Capitol Street for 30 years) and we sold our 25 year old home in Belhaven last November. My business and my home are now in Flowood.
I'm very happy we moved but I do miss the downtown atmosphere and the restaurants. I would move back if things would change but I know, down deep, things will never change. My next move will be out of state. I lived in Jackson 73 of my 74 years---WOW !!! They ran me out.
He's right. . .
a. White people are moving out
b. Black people are the remaining predominant population of Jackson
c. White business owners may "control" things.
Here's the rest of the story:
a. White people moved out to nicer and safer places where the taxes are lower, their families are safer, and the schools are better. Therefore, I guess we should just shoot all the whiteys for wanting better.
b. Black people are the predominant population in Jackson. Why? Because many cannot afford to move out while the hooligans and thugs burn the once nice neighborhoods down with drugs, gangs, and overall general thuggery.
c. White business people WHO ARE STILL IN JACKSON have a vested interest in their investment. They invested their time, money and effort into the City and don't simply want to walk away.
Detroit. . .I mean Jackson, should want more white businessmen in and a better tax base. Without that, what is going to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure. If Mayor Lumumba has any common sense, he will quickly distance himself from this idiot and reach out to the white business community.
But what do I know. I'm just a whitey businessman from a neighboring community who doesn't get caught in Jackson after 6 p.m.
I sincerely wish the best of luck to the new mayor of Jackson. Hopefully he can unify an effort to restore the capital city of Mississippi.
What's up with all these made up 🤡 Clown names? Chokwe, Akune, LaLalabamba, etc. You can't take these people serious. It's like cartoon characters.
Blacks are moving out too. Look at the elementary school populations of such schools closest to Jackson that are outside the city.
I foresee a great deal of economic development occurring over the next 4 years.
Hahahahahhahahah. Just kidding.
Pulling our business, and going elsewhere. Selling our NE Jackson home, sadly that we love. I have had to get permits, etc., in Jackson and I always feel like the reverse 1950's -- instead of the big fat white sheriff asking the black man, "Boy, what you doin' in here and do you know your place?" it is now in the city of Jackson, "White boy (or woman), what you doin' in here and do you know your place, and while you're at it, shut up, pay the fees, don't question the system, and pay your taxes, but don't expect anything.......white boy (or woman), and don't open your mouth!"
I'm fed up with it -- sick of it -- and economics are not anything these social warriors who are looking for an identity and "moving on up" in the political system, understand or care about. Sadly, Jackson blacks do not realize most of the time these people use their votes, for their own ambitions. (On a broader level think Bennie, and is the Delta any better since he's been in DC than before he went?)
It's still America and we can still move and transfer our business presence. It's not a gun to your head, Mr. Akuna, it's a fact.
Why stay where we are NOT welcome? You want your cake and eat it too --we're supposed to stay here, shut up, get stepped on, ignored, derided, get sub standard service at the government level, and we must pay our taxes without any real representation.
Mr. Akuna is the biggest racist I've seen in a long long long long time. Wonder if we can file reverse racism suits with the DOJ -- NE Jackson is being levied taxes and requirements, other demographics in the city are not required to comply with..........just sick of it.
I don't understand what they want. First, whites were racist when they were the majority in Jackson. Next, whites mostly left and they are racists for doing so. Now, it's racist for whites to move back b/c they will gentrify the city?! WTH?!
I'm a black person who still lives in Jackson (for now, anyway). I say gentrify the hell out of Jackson!!!
I sold my NE Jackson house while I still could. Glad to be leaving the city now that Baby Choke is going to be in charge.
Gentrification is another word for attracting upper middle class and upper class people to an area. It is increasing the tax base.
Mr. Akuno should visit our hospitals and legal offices so he'd see that they are diverse. There are doctors and lawyers of all races practicing in our city.
I want them to live in our city and so should Mr. Akuno and The Chamber of Commerce.
With a bigger tax bases, better services, including police services can be offered to ALL our citizens.
Racism is stupid in any human.
A man is known by the company he keeps. -Aesop
To know this man, Lumumba, you need to look at those with whom he associates. Akuno is a red flag associate. He is a racist in no uncertain terms. This verbiage is that of a person who has contempt and bitterness, if not outright hatred, for those of a different race. That is the black letter definition of racism.
Also, you'll notice that the articles about Lumumba's victory do not celebrate a racial unifier, nor a strong fiscal leader, not a law and order champion. They focus on radical black power gaining a foothold in civic government. They see it as a jumping off point for spreading an ideology. They are not talking about how Antar will fix a damaged city nor how he will unite the citizens. Lumumba's campaign rhetoric aside, this is a bad early sign for those expecting a man with the city's best interest at heart.
The message from the Akunos of the world is not one of togetherness. It is one of "getting even". In short, revenge against some perceived grand injustice. Take the land by any means necessary...ANY means. Legal means, unjust means, forcible means, violent means. Who know how far those who espouse this philosophy are willing to go?
Regardless, Akuno's message is clear. Whites are not wanted. We'll take their money and whatever items of value, but they will have no influence nor any voice. In vulgar terms, "F*ck you, Whitey! We're in charge now."
Antar has made a deliberate decision to include him in the new administration, so you can be certain that Lumumba is in step to some degree with the company he has chosen to keep.
The big question and the concern now that Antar has been elected will be: Who will be attracted? Who will be attracted to support, live, and invest in Jackson, Ms? The answer to that question will determine whether Jackson goes into a prolonged death spiral or experiences some resurgence. Despite the rhetoric and wishful thinking Jackson needs outside investment and an economic infusion of capital to expand the ever shrinking tax base. Who's coming? What are they bringing? Money?
Education and expertise? Bullshit? Dreams of a socialist utopia? Antar is right about his election getting national attention, but who's attention? Who's coming?
You know the answer. Nobody is coming. Jackson has no net organic growth and there sure as hell isn't going to be any migrational growth into the city.
It never occurred to Brother Kali that Representative Deborah Gibbs is the wife of Robert Gibbs, the Chairman of the Board. Might want to remember that when Mayor Lumumba goes a beggin' to the legislature next year and some of the Black Caucus members remember his peeps were in effect calling them a bunch of Toms who want to throw black peoples out of Jackson.
One must wonder if this is how the incoming Lumumba administration truly sees the business community of Jackson.
Really? I don't think there's any question at all. They hate white people. They are radical blacks who know it's THEIR TURN, and it's payback time.
We should have picked our own cotton.
AKUNO on Black Agenda Radio: There's some housecleaning that's going to have to get done.
I live and work in Jackson. Didn't vote for Antar in the primary, but did in the general. He SAYS a lot of the right things, and that makes me hopeful. I am willing to give him a chance. As should you all. What other choice do you have? Change won't happen overnight. He's got to clean up what Harvey, Frank and Tony left behind (done or undone). Looks like the 1st thing on his agenda needs to be to close Akuno's mouth for speaking on his behalf. His support was broad, and he has some fine lines to walk, but he needs to prove that he is his own man with his own agenda, which is to govern the City of Jackson for all residents.
2:33 -- Problem is, like Obama closing Reverend Wright's mouth -- Antar will "say the right things" just like Barack did, but the thought process will remain unchanged. When you lie down with dogs, don't be surprised when you get up with fleas -- Akuna is to Antar what Wright was to Obama. Might be an embarrassment now, but he formed him and Antar OWES him. Whitey be damned and watch out for the new Agenda!!! Wonder if we'll be allowed out of our neighborhoods without passes?
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