County Supervisor says Chokwe Lumumba
was Murdered – Wants Autopsy
The death of Chokwe Lumumba was a tough blow to the civil rights community. The Jackson, Mississippi mayor was considered to be one of the great civil rights activists of his time and was respected around the nation. His election was also seen to be a huge step forward in the world of politics.
But Lumumba was dead before he even got a chance to get his mayoral tenure started. While most were saying that he died of natural causes, there are others who believe that there were more sinister forces at work. Hinds County Supervisor Kenny Stokes told the Jackson Clarion – Ledger that he believes Mayor Lumumba was killed and that he demands that doctors do a thorough autopsy in order to determine the cause of death.
“We gonna ask a question: Who killed the mayor?” He asked during an event remembering Lumumba’s legacy. He says that he doesn’t have proof of his assertion, but believes that this could be the case.
Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart told The Clarion-Ledger that the mayor died of natural causes, but would not elaborate due to privacy laws. The family hasn’t accused anyone of foul play either. But Stokes isn’t backing off, stating that an autopsy would be a good way to ensure that the mayor died the way they say he did.
“We gonna ask a question: Who killed the mayor? We’d feel a lot better if there was an autopsy,” Stokes said. “First they say it’s not a heart attack and not a stroke, then what was it? You don’t just die like that and you’re healthy.”
Stokes says that, despite what official reports are saying, many in the community are aware that the mayor’s life may have been taken.
“So many of us feel, throughout the city of Jackson, that the mayor was murderd,” Stokes told reporters. “I’m not going to sugar coat it. I’m not going to try to say it in a way where the people feel, you know, that we should have said it in another way.”
Stokes is now the supervisor for the city and spent years on the city council. He says that he is surprised that the mayor died suddenly, given that he was in good health and his visitors claimed that he was doing just fine.
“If he was in any way kind of in trouble, people would have stayed there,” Stokes said.
There is no official cause of death stated, but members of the city leadership have proclaimed that he died of a heart attack.
