By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Under sweltering heat, upwards of three hundred men, women, and children marched to the Mississippi State Capitol for The Thousand Man March, part of the broader Thousand Man Movement headquartered in Jackson. The march was organized by prominent musician, media personality, motivational speaker, and founder of Jackson Indie Music Week – Brad “Kamikaze” Franklin – along with Living with Purpose Founder and credible messenger, John Knight, as well as longtime broadcaster, podcaster, television news anchor, and former management team member of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Mississippi – Othor Cain.
Representative Chris Bell highlighted that in the upcoming legislative session “the leaders have been very clear that they will be talking about school choice. So that means taking tax dollars that you have worked so hard for to go to students in other school districts. Our school system here has been doing great things under the leadership of Dr. Errick Greene. We have gone from a system grade of “F” to a “C” and coming up on a “B” – we are certainly improving. It’s not feasible to think about taking our tax dollars for other districts. Jackson has a large school budget and many of the contracts involved are with minority vendors – taking the tax dollars away will hurt the system but also will affect jobs and families.”
Bell encouraged community participation and making your voices heard. He promised to publicize the bills as they are presented, to make as many people as possible aware of what is going on inside the Capitol. “Contact us, let us hear from you, we need unity.”
Living with Purpose – Where every young life is valued and empowered – has a mission statement that reads, “At Living with Purpose, we are on a mission to empower at-risk youth and young adults impacted by poverty and the criminal justice system. Our goal is to nurture responsible, contributing members of society by providing mentorship and comprehensive life skill development.” The founder, John Knight, said he starts each day telling young people – I love you – “the truth is that not all of our children are hearing that, and they need to hear it. We all need to start somewhere. This march is just the start, just the beginning. Do not let this be the last event that you are part of.”
Brad Franklin began his remarks with his classic call and response – Black Power, Every Hour.
“We are at a critical point in our city and in our state. It’s time to let people understand that we know as Black folks that racism is not an opinion. Racism is a choice that you make. Fascism is not an opinion. It is not an ideology. It is a choice that you make. There is no other group of people that exist on this planet that has been more maligned than all my beautiful Black folk that are out here today. This week, from every angle, all I see is Black folks getting blamed for stuff that had nothing to do with us at all whatsoever…talking about Black on Black crime as if white on white crime is not at 85 percent…when a white man kills a white man and the next day HBCU’s are on lockdown, it ain’t got a damn thing to do with us…we have a gubernatorial election coming up and I need people to understand that most of the problems Black people have in this city and state come out of this building right here…your vote matters, sitting home has not worked…”
Past Jackson mayor, and current Director of Schools for Midtown Charter Schools, Tony Yarber, engaged the crowd having people speak to one another – turn to your neighbor and say, I can’t make it without you. “You’ve heard the political charge, and you’ve heard the social charge, but there is a book I read daily that says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities…when you oppress a people…some people need a ministry that does not include being beaten down….we take it out on each other…my challenge to you is to be very confrontational with the divisive spirit that has found it’s way in our ranks…life has put us in silos…in order for us to reestablish what we are trying to do we got to go back to before desegregation….we need our own pool of resources…we need to heal a bit…” Turn to your neighbor and say, “I believe in what’s in you. You are the superman that we have been waiting for.”
The founder of Black with No Chaser, attorney C.J. Lawrence spoke, as well as Stephen Brown – founder of Briarwood Art Center, and Kimar Cain – educator, community organizer, on-air personality – representing Brothers Helping Brothers Mississippi. Other community members in attendance included former State Representative and community organizer Kathy Sykes, City of Jackson Ward 4 Councilman Dr. Brian Grizzell, Civil Rights veteran and current Jackson School Board member Frank Figgers, Christopher Cooper and about a dozen members of Better Men Society, attorney and community organizer for Working Together Jackson – Chevon Chatman, and author and founder of Community Library Mississippi – Meredith Coleman McGee.
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