Federal bribery investigation is another blow for Mississippi’s embattled capital
JACKSON, Miss. — Seven years ago, Chokwe Antar Lumumba swept into the Jackson mayor’s office with plans to shake up local politics. At 34, he was the city’s youngest ever mayor, and he campaigned on a promise of self-determination for the predominantly Black city.
Now Lumumba, 41, stands accused in a sprawling corruption scandal that has also ensnared Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and City Council members Aaron Banks and Angelique Lee. Lumumba, Owens and Banks have pleaded not guilty. Lee, who resigned in August, pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
Some officials fear the indictments could overshadow the city’s efforts to improve residents’ quality of life — or undermine local leadership.
“I’m just praying that the legislators and state leadership can see beyond these indictments and realize that we still need help from the state in getting some very specific things done,” City Council President Virgi Lindsay said.
While Lindsay hopes the state will still provide funds for necessary improvements to infrastructure and blight, she acknowledged the request is coming at a fraught time.
Even before the indictments, the state’s Republican leadership had pushed for greater control of the city’s affairs. Political observers say this new crisis could intensify a long-running battle between the state’s mostly white Republican elected officials and the city’s largely Black Democratic leadership.
“Race is always a factor. It’s an ongoing factor in Mississippi politics,” said Leslie McLemore, a former Jackson State University political science professor who also once sat on the Jackson City Council. “You cannot in a very real sense separate Mississippi history in general from the tensions you find in the city of Jackson,” McLemore went on to add. “It’s an ongoing saga.”
Jackson is Mississippi’s largest city. But with roughly 144,000 residents, it is also small enough that constituents have a decent chance of running into local politicians around town.
“All of these folks were well-trusted, well-liked individuals,” said Bishop Ronnie Crudup Sr., the head pastor of New Horizon Church International in Jackson. “When you have servants from the mayor to City Council members to the local DA all being indicted, that’s a tremendous hit for the city.”
Jackson has already taken plenty of them. In 2022, a water crisis caused residents to go without clean water for days on end. That was on top of years of boil-water notices that eroded residents’ trust in the city’s water supply. Then, last year, Jacksonians went without municipal trash collection for roughly two weeks amid a contract dispute. And while some violent crimes have dropped, the homicide rate is still among the nation’s highest.
“It’s not even shock anymore,” Kim Meeks, who runs a locksmith shop in Jackson’s Fondren neighborhood with her husband, said about the indictment. “When’s the next shoe going to drop?”
Federal prosecutors have alleged the officials accepted, or in Owens’ case facilitated, bribe payments from out-of-state developers pitching a hotel project in downtown Jackson. Unbeknownst to them, the men were undercover FBI agents, according to a recently unsealed indictment. The mayor’s office declined to comment; calls to Owens’ attorneys, Banks and Lee were not returned.
“I know the state does not trust the administration of the city of Jackson,” said Democratic state Rep. Zakiya Summers, whose district includes parts of Jackson. Summers, who took office in 2020, said she is used to seeing “anti-Jackson” legislation come across her desk, referring to what she called the state’s push for oversight of city resources.
A spokesperson for Republican Governor Tate Reeves did not respond to questions about the relationship between the city and state. She referred to his Nov. 7 comments on the indictments, where he called the charges “serious.”
“It is early in the process and because it is an ongoing criminal I don’t believe I should make any other comment,” Reeves told reporters.
The House Speaker and Lt. Governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In April, a push by conservative legislators to strip local control of the city’s water system failed for the second time in the House. More recently, a state-run police force has expanded its presence in Jackson. Last year, residents and civil groups also protested House Bill 1020, legislation sponsored by Republican lawmakers that would mandate the creation of a new court for Hinds County, of which Jackson is part, with a special judge and prosecutors appointed by state officials.
Supporters of the court say it will promote public safety, but Lumumba called the bill “an attack on Black leadership,” and the U.S. Justice Department and the NAACP weighed in on the city’s behalf.
“H.B. 1020 intentionally discriminates against minority voters in Hinds County by creating a system of judicial and prosecutorial appointments specifically designed to undermine the historical power of Black residents, through their elected officials, to self-govern,” they said in a complaint.
A federal judge dismissed the NAACP’s efforts to block the court in December; appointments for the court have not yet been announced.
Next year’s legislative session will overlap with primaries in the mayor’s race, which could be more competitive for Lumumba than either of his two previous races.
Some of his popularity stems from his revered father, Chokwe Lumumba, a civil rights activist, who was known on a national stage for calling for reparations, representing Black revolutionaries and successfully defending Tupac Shakur against assault charges.
The elder Lumumba became mayor of Jackson in 2013 but died suddenly at age 66 only eight months into his term. His son announced his plans to run later that year, vowing to continue fighting for the city.
“I propose that the people didn’t just vote for a man, they voted for a vision and for a movement,” he told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper at the time. “And no person is better suited to move that vision forward than myself, who co-authored it.”
Jacksonians will soon decide whether they still support that vision.
Before his indictment, Lumumba announced his intentions to run again. Outside his arraignment, his sister, Rukia Lumumba, said those plans had not changed. He could face a crowded Democratic primary.
Annie Cooper, 74, a retiree who lives in Northwest Jackson, said she voted for Lumumba in the past but has not decided whether she will again.
“I think that it’s important for people to do things in a professional manner,” she said, regarding the management of the city. “If it’s not run in a certain way, it just gives the state more reason to take over.”
Byron D’Andra Orey, a political science professor at Jackson State University, said the bribery scandal could shape the municipal elections. “He’s innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “But it doesn’t help his candidacy given the challenges Jackson faces. The negative attention it brings to his administration compounds what’s already there.”
The Rev. CJ Rhodes, who leads Mount Helm Baptist Church in Jackson, said he was “grieved” by the indictments but hopes the moment could prompt a change.
“There could be people in the city of Jackson who remind us of our greatness and see this crisis more as an opportunity than as a death sentence,” he said. “I think this is a great opportunity to convert the darkness rather than curse it.”
