Makani Themba
Makani Themba is the chief strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies based in Jackson, MS. A social justice innovator and pioneer in the fields of change communications and community-centered policy development, Makani has spent more than 30 years supporting grassroots organizations, coalitions, and philanthropic institutions in developing high impact change initiatives.
As Executive Director and founder of The Praxis Project, and previously as the director of the Center for Media and Policy Analysis at The Marin Institute, Makani has worked in diverse communities and indigenous nations nationwide to help advance breakthrough, progressive local policies.
Makani has published numerous articles and case studies on race, class, media, policy advocacy, and public health, and is the author of Making Policy, Making Change: How Communities Are Taking the Law into Their Own Hands. She also wrote, under The Praxis Project, Fair Game: A Strategy Guide for Racial Justice Communications in the Obama Era. She is a co-author of Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention, and Talking the Walk: Communications Guide for Racial Justice.
Presentations from Facing Race 2024
The Grab: Talking About State Takeovers, White Supremacy, and How We Keep Our Power
Preemption is currently being used and abused to disrupt advances in racial justice, health equity, voting, and countless other issues that deeply impact the ability to build power for communities of color. We saw this clearly in Jackson, Mississippi, where the state legislature passed House Bill 1020, mandating the appointment of special judges and prosecutors by Mississippi state officials in majority-Black Hinds County, which includes the City of Jackson.
HB 1020 also permits Capitol Police to take effective control of policing responsibilities in an area of Jackson, increasing the police presence in Black communities. With its enactment, it shifts authority over the county’s criminal justice system away from democratically elected judges and prosecutors elected by Black voters. It also starves revenue from the city by diverting 18% of the tax revenue that should go to Jackson city but will now go to the state to fund the new judiciary arm.
The blatant power grab and preemptive attack by the majority-White legislature in a Black city like Jackson, MS, is spreading across the country. White and right-wing conservative states are attacking our voting rights, education and curriculum, efforts to advance police abolition, living wage ordinances, and the bodily autonomy and healthcare of trans and gender-expansive youth.
Our communities are feeling the brunt of these state attacks. This panel will discuss the impact of state power grabs at the local level and the strategies to combat them, from narrative shifts needed to organizing strategies to protect local victories and community self-determination.
Speakers: Judith Browne Dianis, Makani Themba, Jennifer Dillon, Kayla Reed