The Clay Edwards Show

Lumumba stands behind comments saying water takeover could make city ‘no longer Black’

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba stands behind comments he made in a private phone call that a water takeover could make the city “no longer Black.”
“I am proud that I live in a majority Black city. And I don’t apologize for that,” he said. “Now does that mean that I have any ill intent or ill will or any designs against anybody else? Absolutely not.”
“But we’re like anybody else. There is some comfort in being able to be in a space that looks like you, that relates to you culturally.”
Lumumba was responding to a question about comments he made during a private phone call with former Water Operations Manager Mary Carter.
The comments were played during Carter’s wrongful termination trial last month in U.S. District Court.
The mayor was recorded saying, “We absolutely believe that there is a coordinated effort to take this water treatment facility and that effort... it’s bigger than the little politics that we get into. If that happens, that is going to be the first step of trying to make the city no longer Black.”
Lumumba said that similar efforts had already impacted the city of Detroit, which he said, “[isn’t] as Black as... it used to be.”
He did not explain in the phone call how the takeover made Detroit less Black.
Jackson has one of the largest African American populations of any major city in the United States, with 82.2 percent of residents being Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By comparison, Detroit’s population is 77.8 percent African American.
The comments were made in July 2022, weeks before the city’s main water treatment plant shut down, leaving tens of thousands of people without running water for weeks.
The comments also came months before the city’s water system was put under the control of a federal receiver.
Others heard on the phone call include Dr. Safiya Omari, the mayor’s chief of staff, and Carter herself.
He said the attorneys likely released the conversation to sway the majority-white jury to find in favor of Carter. However, he said that strategy did not work.
Carter was fired as Jackson’s Deputy Director of Water Operations in 2022 amid the water crisis. She claimed she was terminated for speaking out in an interview with WLBT.
Attorneys for the city claimed that she was fired for being incompetent.
“I’m not going to be ashamed of any comments because I assume I’m being recorded at all times in life,” Lumumba said. “In every moment, not just because there are cameras. I always assume and have always assumed that I’m being recorded.”
Lumumba said Carter likely recorded the conversation because she knew she would be fired.
According to court documents, former Public Works Director Marlin King drew up two draft termination letters for Carter the summer before the water crisis. King was demoted at the start of the crisis and later resigned from the city.

3 South Jxn Taliban members arrested after security guard shot and killed at Jxn gas station

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Three teenagers have been charged with capital murder after a security guard was shot and killed at a gas station in Jackson. According to Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade, the incident happened around 1:30 a.m. at the M&M Food Express located on Cooper Road. Chief Wade said the victim, Roy Love, was providing security at the gas station when he approached three juveniles in the parking lot, asking them to leave. The three teens, 17-year-old Tren Wooten, 17-year-old Zaylan Norton, and 16-year-old Cadarius Choan, allegedly attacked Love, took his weapon, and shot him. Love died as a result of the attack. Officers responded to Woody Drive and Monticello Drive area to search for the suspects. Shortly after, the three teens were located. All three have been charged with capital murder.

JXN'S DEADLIEST GAS STATIONS MUST HAVE 24 HR SECURITY NOW (07/06/24)

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A new Jackson ordinance will require businesses to hire security if they have at least three violent crimes in a 90-day period. On Tuesday, the Jackson City Council approved an ordinance requiring businesses associated with violent crimes to hire security during hours of operation. The measure was approved after about 20 minutes of heated discussion, and after several council members and City Attorney Drew Martin raised concerns about whether the ordinance could be enforced. “I’ve advised the council on a couple of occasions now that while I think this is a well-intentioned ordinance, I do not believe that it is enforceable,” Martin said. “I don’t believe that the law would allow the city to require the businesses to hire personnel and also think the definition of a business associated with violence during hours of operation is going to be too ambiguous.” Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes disagreed, saying the council needed to send a message that the city is against crime. “If the legal department thinks they can’t defend that, then I understand that, but we’ll get somebody who can,” he said. “Don’t tell these citizens you’ve got to keep dying in this city, and ain’t nobody going to do nothing.” The measure was approved on a 5-1-1 vote, with Stokes and Councilmembers Ashby Foote, Angelique Lee, Aaron Banks, and Vernon Hartley voting in favor. Councilman Brian Grizzell voted against the ordinance, and Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay abstained. The vote came after the council amended the one-page ordinance to provide more specifics on what businesses would be impacted. Rather than businesses “associated with violence,” the council changed the ordinance to say any business that has had at least three violent crimes in 90 days. Banks initially recommended five crimes during that timeframe, but Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said that might be too many. “What I’m saying is five crimes within 90 days, that’s a lot. It’s a lot,” he said. “I’m saying three crimes, two to three crimes within 90 days [are] too many. Linsday suggested putting the item back in the Public Safety Committee, “because we do not have time to sit here and dissect this line by line today.” Banks said the item was held over from a previous meeting and there had already been a request for the City Attorney’s Office to bring forward any suggestions. “It’s rolled over to the time of the adoption, so, I’m trying to help get it to a place where it’s healthy enough to be passed [and] to have a good legal grounding,” he said. “I don’t want council members to feel like if something goes up for introduction... and I know you’re busy, I’m not trying to slight [you]... I’m just trying to get it to a place...” Martin said he’d be happy to sit down with Stokes to discuss the ordinance further, saying the first time he saw it was the first time it was on the agenda two weeks ago. “We’ve been doing that with Councilwoman Lee. We’ve done it with Councilman Hartley,” he said. “I think there’s a way to address the issue he’s trying to address and do it in a legal way that we can defend, and have confidence that our police can enforce it,” he said. Stokes also rejected holding off on the vote, saying putting it back into committee would be akin to killing it. “If legal wanted to do something with this ordinance to help stop these killings, they would have had a companion ordinance, which they do not have. That ain’t nothing but fluff that you tell the new and green people,” he said. “We can vote, Mr. President, I’m ready. If it dies, it dies. But we’ll keep fighting.” The ordinance will go into effect in 30 days, pending an appeal to the Hinds County Circuit Court.

WILL THEY INVOKE THE 25TH AMENDMENT ON JOE BIDEN? W/ SHAUN YURTKURAN

Shaun Yurtkuran and myself take a deep dive in the Joe Biden's inner circle and allies breaking rank and publicly asking for him to step aside and not run for president of the United States of America. We also talk about the realistic option of the 25th Amendment being invoked by Kamala Harris and his cabinet! What a time to be alive!!!

SOLAR FARM COMING TO DESTROY RAYMOND & W. HINDS COUNTY W/ ALLISON LAUDERDALE

It's Independence Day Eve here in America, as we get ready to take a little vacation till Monday we ended the week of live show with fireworks of our own. Hour #1 we had Allison Lauderdale on the show to discuss the wishes & will of the citizens of Raymond & western Hinds County being ignored as the Hinds County Board Of Supervisors complete ignored over half of Raymond's residents by approving a solar farm. We take a deep dive into the green energy hustle as we expose the greed and ignorance of all parties involved.
 

INDEPENDENCE DAY EVE W/ SHAUN YURTKURAN (Ep #788)

It's Independence Day Eve here in America, as we get ready to take a little vacation till Monday we ended the week of live show with fireworks of our own. Hour #1 we had Allison Lauderdale on the show to discuss the wishes & will of the citizens of Raymond & western Hinds County being ignored as the Hinds County Board Of Supervisors complete ignored over half of Raymond's residents by approving a solar farm. We take a deep dive into the green energy hustle as we expose the greed and ignorance of all parties involved.
Hour #2 Shaun Yurtkuran and myself take a deep dive in the Joe Biden's inner circle and allies breaking rank and publicly asking for him to step aside and not run for president of the United States of America. We also talk about the realistic option of the 25th Amendment being invoked by Kamala Harris and his cabinet! What a time to be alive!!!

BREAKING NEWS - TRUMP HUSH MONEY SENTENCING DELAYED TILL AFTER CONVENTION

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office said Tuesday it won’t oppose delaying former President Trump’s July 11 sentencing even as they disagree with his new attempt to set aside his hush money verdict on immunity grounds. 
Following the Supreme Court’s decision carving out criminal immunity for former presidents, Trump on Monday sent a letter to his judge insisting prosecutors at the trial introduced evidence that is precluded under the Supreme Court’s test.
“Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion,” Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass responded in a letter filed Tuesday. 
Trump’s sentencing is currently scheduled for July 11, just days before he is set to officially accept the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention the following week. But the prosecutors’ response raises a strong possibility it will be pushed for at least a few weeks.
The former president’s lawyers have asked for a July 10 deadline to file their written brief explaining their immunity arguments. Their schedule, if accepted, would likely necessitate a delay. 
Steinglass requested prosecutors be provided two additional weeks to respond, agreeing to delay the sentencing in the meantime. That would mean Trump’s sentencing wouldn’t take place until at least July 24 — after the convention. 
Trump was convicted on all 34 counts of falsifying business records for disguising reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen. Cohen had paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, an affair he denies. 
Unlike his three criminal cases that have not yet gone to trial, where Trump argues his actual charges must be tossed because of presidential immunity, he has not claimed immunity from the hush money charges themselves. 
Instead, Trump asserts some of prosecutors’ trial evidence was official conduct that is immunized and could not be shown to the jury. The evidence, among other things, includes tweets Trump sent during his presidency. 
“[T]his official-acts evidence should never have been put before the jury,” Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, the former president’s attorneys, wrote in their Monday letter. 
Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the recent trial, previously ruled that Trump waited too long to raise a presidential immunity defense. 

IS THE RIGHT WRONG ABOUT THE SCOTUS IMMUNITY DECISION?

Matthew Bishop, host of the Full Story on WYAB 103.9, joins me to break down the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity, along with the left's total meltdown and the right's premature celebration.
 

MORE SMITH-WILLS STADIUM LEASE SHENANIGANS W/ KINGFISH

Kingfish from Jackson Jambalaya joins the show to discuss the outright shenanigans involving the lease and lack of rent payments between the management team at Smith-Wills Stadium and the city of Jackson. Is it incompetence or corruption?
 

THE LAST INDEPENDENCE DAY EVER?

I don't want to sound too negative because I think we're winning, but we still need to enjoy every last moment of what resembles what we consider "normal times" here in America. Enjoy this Independence Day with your friends and family, enjoy this upcoming football season, and don't let the left steal your joy as they drive our country off a cliff.