Jackson Free Press

Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba condemned the recent spate of killings in Jackson, which reached 128 last year, the highest recorded number in the city’s history. Homicides numbered 13 in the capital city in January.

Lumumba called the homicides “senseless acts of violence.” "There is no justification for taking someone's life in the ways that we have seen in recent months,” he said during a media briefing Monday.

Up for re-election this year, he defended his administration's law-enforcement actions of the last four years, including ramped-up police recruitment, providing them new technologies to work with, and called on community collaboration.

"We've had five times as many recruit classes as the previous administration and (are) working to make the profession of law enforcement attractive," the mayor said. "(People in the communities) know who is in trouble, they know who is demonstrating activity that is troubling, and we want to interfere with that cycle before it becomes deadly."

The mayor repeatedly described the situation as a perfect storm of limited jail facilities, court proceedings, grand and trial juries because of COVID-19 precautions and young people removed from traditional school structures. He also blamed the lack of available jail space in a county where many pre-trial detainees have long awaited trial for months or years—long before the pandemic slowed the process down even more.

"It frustrates our officers when they are arresting people, (and) it's only so much strategy you can do when you are told that when you make an arrest, you have (to) release someone because you have no place to put them," Lumumba said.

"And we know that we have a court process that is delayed as a result of COVID," he added. "It makes it difficult to have the number of trials that we have, so this creates the perfect storm, where you have people that have often been arrested that are awaiting trials that are still in the midst of conflict and still creating threats within our community, that we are without the resources to put them where they need to be. And we are without the resources to move forward in the way that we have to."

Lumumba said part of the solution is increased social engagement and provision of social services. "It's about how we build relationships with one another," Lumumba said. "Then you can have the conversations which interrupt the cycle of violence that may be present."

"Our goal should be that we no longer have to have officers responding to instances like that as frequently as they are, that we're responding to the instances of the crying out of the community before it gets to that point," he added.

Black History Month Proclamation

Lumumba called for recognition of Black people's contributions as he proclaimed February 2021 Black History Month yesterday.

"It is important to me not only as a Black man that we recognize this month, but I think it is important to us all because I believe that we owe our children more than just Black history, we owe them correct history, and that history reflects and celebrates many of the achievements of people who look just like them," the mayor said.

"The events of this past year have profoundly underscored the importance of teaching Black history, as we have seen how mainstream omission of this history, in all its splendor and disgrace, has fed our nation's legacy of racism and systemic inequality," the proclamation order said. "Our nation finds itself at a critical moment of reckoning and self-reflection from reversing inequities in criminal justice and health care to reconciling the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities; there is much work and healing ahead of us."

City Opens Application For Youth Summer Program

The Department of Human and Cultural Services' Family and Youth Division has begun receiving applications for its annual Mayor Youth Summer Employment Program for those ages 16 to 24, a paid program for skills development. Participants must be 16 years old by March 5, 2021, to qualify.

"We want to encourage our young people to take advantage of this process, to submit applications," the mayor said Monday. "We need to expose our young people to the work environment so that they can begin to envision themselves taking (their) place in that environment as well."

"And so it's an opportunity to find a way to engage our young people, for them to gain skills and gain understanding (and) broaden their horizons."

"The annual program offers Jackson youth paid opportunities to develop an array of work skills and experience and aims to foster an environment that teaches work ethics and life skills while providing exposure to diverse careers in the private and public sector," a city statement said.

"The Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program is open to all City of Jackson residents between the ages of 16 and 24."

"Applications are available for download on the City's website. Applications can also be picked up from the Department of Human and Cultural Services in Metrocenter Mall. Applications are due Friday, March 5, 2021. Interviews will be conducted the week of March 15-18," it added. "For more information, please contact Jasmine Thigpen at 601-960-0556 or email [email protected]."

Email story tips to city/county reporter Kayode Crown at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @kayodecrown.