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The Slate

It is time to start some speculation. The 2014 NFL Draft will begin May 8—who will the New Orleans Saints take with the 27th pick in the first round?

Film

Love, Intelligence and Artifice

Wally Pfister's eye for beauty and intrigue is unmatched in today's cinema, and he now makes his directorial debut with "Transcendence."

Food

Gluten-Free Goodies

What is this gluten-free diet that everyone is talking about? It isn't the latest fad diet or a weight-loss secret. Gluten is a protein found in some grains, such as …

City & County

Report: Youth Jail Schools Still Bad

Most states require kids to go to school through the first year or two of high school, but when it comes to juvenile-justice facilities, education is almost an afterthought for …

City & County

Taking a D.A.R.T. Out of Crime

D.A.R.T. works as JPD's "troubleshooting" unit by patrolling areas of the city that may be experiencing a more-than-average amount of crime, typically dealing with property crime or drug reinforcement.

City & County

A Hands-On Tony Yarber Administration?

"Tony won!" exclaimed a man to a small, growing crowd outside one of the main ballrooms at the King Edward Hotel on Tuesday night.

Politics

Party Switchers Cause Rifts

It might not contain all of the melodrama now playing out between Mississippi Republicans, but the Mississippi Democratic Party is having to deal with its own, smaller, civil war—and all …

Editor's Note

The Amazing Toughness of Kids

All kids need is love and attention, and they'll grow into amazing people; just look at the roster of our Amazing Teens, which includes National Honor Society members, community volunteers, …

World

SKorea Ferry Toll Hits 156 as Search Gets Tougher

As the 156th body was pulled from waters where the ferry Sewol sank a week ago, relatives of the nearly 150 still missing pressed the government Wednesday to finish the …

World

FM Vows Response if Russians Attacked in Ukraine

Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday promised a firm response if its citizens or interests come under attack in Ukraine—a vow that came after Ukraine announced a renewal of its "anti-terror" …

Education

Pay Increases, Merit Raises for Miss. Teachers

Mississippi public schoolteachers can look forward to a $2,500 pay increase over the next two years on top of normal annual raises, with Gov. Phil Bryant signing a bill Tuesday …

Politics

The 'Obama Effect' and the Jackson Mayoral Race

As local news stations and media outlets continually display nefarious activities committed by young African American men, it’s refreshing to witness young African American men being featured for reasons other …

April 22, 2014

Everyday People Everyday: Two #JxnMayor Theme Songs

By R.L. Nave

Go to any campaign event for either candidate, and you'll hear it.

Both Ward 6 Councilman Tony Yarber and Chokwe A. Lumumba claim to be the everyman who represents "everyday people." In fact, Yarber incorporates the phrase in his campaign literature and stump speeches. Lumumba has also adopted the mantra, to tie into his family's history of legal and civil-rights activism, especially for the poor.

Inevitably, you'll also hear something else: the familiar chorus of Sly & and the Family Stone's 1969 hit "Everyday People." At Yarber's events, the song plays as if it's on a timer. At Lumumba functions, the song appears in a slightly different form, as a sample in the 1992 song "People Everyday" from hip-hop group Arrested Development.

Both are great songs that celebrate diversity and question racial and ethnic prejudice. The songs also highlight generational differences in the candidates' bases.

The average Yarber voter, I suspect, is older, and maybe of the Motown generation For them, songs like "Everyday People" comprised part of the soundtrack of their youth, a time when the nation was amid cultural upheaval.

The Family Stone sings:

There is a long hair/ That doesn't like the short hair/ For being such a rich one/ That will not help the poor one/ Different strokes/ For different folks

"People Everyday," a Lumumba favorite, on the other hand, is emblematic of the conscious Afrocentricity that permeated hip-hop in the early and mid-90s. For a lot of people, Lumumba's father, the late mayor, embodied a lot of that spirit. I'd guess that the prototypical Lumumba enthusiast is younger, a Generation X-er or millennial, who was drawn to his father's revolutionary political philosophies that rejected bourgeois complacency.

"People Everyday" speaks to this; Arrested Development group member Speech rhymes in the song:

So they came to test Speech cause of my hair-do/ And the loud bright colors that I wear [Boo!]/ I was a target cause I'm a fashion misfit/ And the outfit that I'm wearing brothers dissin' it

It's now been a generation since Arrested Development came on the scene (use the phrase today and people assume you're referring to the cult mockumentary). And they came on the scene a generation after Sly and the Family Stone.

Interestingly, Lumumba and Yarber—31 and 36, respectively—and their candidacies embody the same kind of generational blending, between "old head" and "thundercat," as "Everyday People" and "People Everyday."

Tonight, after the ballots are cast and counted, one the songs and the campaign it represents will be more resonant than the other.

City & County

Following the Money: More Shadowy Mayoral Backers Come to Light

Over the weekend, an unregistered political-action committee, Citizens for Decency, launched an all-out blitz with negative ads against Ward 6 Councilman Tony Yarber.

In the final hours before today's runoff election for mayor of Jackson, surrogates and third …

Biz Roundup

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