The Lumumba Center opened its doors in January 2015, and commemorated one-year since the passing of the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba in February 2015. The Lumumba Center will serve as the base for Cooperation Jackson and its overall operations including the Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI), the Nubia Lumumba Arts and Culture Cooperative of Cooperation Jackson, the Freedom Farms Cooperative, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), the Jackson People’s Assembly, and the People’s Task Force. Dr. Mutulu Shakur wrote the following statement for the occasion.
In the assembly of our efforts on a national front to advance the ideology of brother Chokwe, Constitutional Attorney, we must be very persistent in this volition. We must become sufficiently pragmatic in our economic predictability on an administrative level, so as to upsurge our own political capitol and mount the economic equity necessary to hurdle ourselves toward a participatory economic democracy that is sustainable, with merit, and that also reflects our principles and values.
It is important that we develop a municipal economic structure paragon to a people set free in our essence to determine our own destiny and set a foundation of meaningful interaction and substance with the rest of the world, particularly throughout the Diaspora with the emerging new economic paradigm. Such as the example of president Robert Mugabe going against all odds in the implementation of indigenization for the people of southern Africa. Then with merit, that our capitol reflects genuinely in the amelioration of our communities, the education of our children and the survival of our people as we desire.
We are here today to recognize the leadership and sacrifice of a individual who immersed his ideology in the New Afrikan code of Umoja, which requires upon acceptance of that pledge that we bring into this nation…brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers…who were left by the wayside as a result of the alluvium repression and historical victories acquired by plausible alms to the struggle. We stand on the onyx of a revolutionary thinker, democratic lawyer, electoral official and a grassroots liberator who shined forth with all the strategical dexterity of a thousand suns. We you…must honor this great man not by just labeling his theory as Chokweism but by putting into fruition the cornerstone of his concept that will allow our people to dream, live free, eat and allow the creative essence of their minds to see the future from here to Mars. This is what we call—“Economic Democracy.” In fact!
It is understood…we do have very important tangible societal goals to accomplish for our future. One of which is our accumulative experience and intensified research to develop a strategy to forward the individual and community health of a people who have been targeted. This strategy should not be underestimated. While many of our comrades have never succumbed to lack of spirit, lack of audacity, and in some cases even the lack of support, we owe it to our legacy to as much as possible prevent the reoccurring health tragedies that have taken away our celestial warriors. We who believe in God know that all things are in the will of Allah, but we also know that we do not have a medical think tank or a forensic medical unit that responds to our particular needs, at anytime and anywhere. We should not have to depend on the opposition. So, the theory and implementation of our chairman’s economic democracy must include in the debate the health of our people and our nation.
I conclude, in the spirit of our beautiful comrade Chokwe Lumumba, do all you can to interpose power to the people!!!
Stiff Resistance,
Dr. Mutulu Shakur