Mississippi Freedom Summer, 50 Years Later: KPFK 6/18

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On the 50th anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer, we will revisit the project that brought a thousand mostly white students from the North to teach in Freedom Schools and work on voter registration – the summer that began with the murders, 50 years ago on June 21, of  Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew GoodmanDAVE DENNIS was there – he was head of CORE in Mississippi in the early 1960s, and he spoke at James Chaney’s funeral.

Plus: TOM HAYDEN on the climax of Mississippi Freedom Summer, when the Freedom Democratic Party challenged the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City in 1964.

And we will look at the movement in Mississippi today: JED OPPENHEIM will talk about the legacy left by Chokwe Lumumba, the radical mayor of Jackson who died in February—his movement was based on people’s assemblies and  “a solidarity economy.”  Jed is the Advocacy coordinary for the ACLU of Mississippi, and serves on the Jackson Public Schools Board, where he was appointed by Mayor Chokwe Lumumba.