Jackson Free Press

The late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba didn't just inspire his voters, he also took risks for others without expecting to be repaid in return. As others remembered him, the immigrant community never got to say goodbye to the late Lumumba, who won a Freedom from Fear award in 2011 for an anti-racial profiling ordinance he wrote as a city councilman. But that doesn't mean we're not concerned about ways in which we can keep his legacy alive in our own way. The anti-racial profiling ordinance championed by Mayor Chokwe Lumumba during his time as a city councilman intended to keep the police from inquiring a person's immigration status whenever they were in contact with Jackson police.

Though this ordinance was a step in the right direction, the ordinance wasn't always implemented leading to instances of racial profiling against a local Jackson family recently, which sets a terrible precedent for how Latinos and the various immigrant communities are treated across the state of Mississippi. The time is now to take larger risks for immigrant communities, even if they aren't always able to vote due to their lack of immigration status. Undocumented and documented immigrants alike contribute to Jackson and Mississippi's economy, culture and life on a daily basis, and deserve better recognition and services from the city they call home, build businesses in, and pay taxes to.

Several mayoral candidates are currently sitting in the Jackson City Council, and others are in powerful positions in which they can have a positive impact in immigrant communities. To all Jackson mayoral candidates: you do not have to win this election in order to include us in your future vision or plans for Jackson, and the time to start including us is now. It is especially important to find ways to include those who are undocumented, and youth who are not eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) because they are basically paying taxes without any representation from anyone in the state or federal level, and the City of Jackson has the power to represent those who are not given a voice through regular electoral processes.. Here are some suggestions for what Jackson's mayoral candidates can and must do for immigrant communities whether they win these elections or not:

1. Open city and local job opportunities to undocumented people. Jackson is having a conference on co-operatives and these are endeavors immigrant communities can be a part of. Beneficiaries of the DACA program can now legally work for the city of Jackson, and it's important to encourage them to apply for open positions in the city. Those who are undocumented are legally able to open businesses and participate in work co-operatives using a Tax ID assigned by the IRS or registering an LLC, and it is imperative that the city of Jackson keeps track of this knowledge in order to open more economic doors of opportunity to undocumented people and the city of Jackson itself.

2. Develop and …

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