Jackson holds Thousand Man March ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Million Man March

Franklin says he thought it was important to create a public march that was intentionally addressing areas of concern for Black people.

“Those other protests protesting Donald Trump and ‘No Kings Day’ and all those things, that's good,” he said. “Still at the end of the day, this is something for us by us that is going to be specifically catered to Black people.”

Franklin says recent national legislation and state level politics disproportionally negatively impact Black communities, but he says he’s trying to spark even more internal change among Black men themselves.

“There's a lot of people already doing good work in mentoring, in service pieces and political pieces and economic development pieces,” he said. “They're already doing the work. This is going to be a way for us to bring them together. We just wanted our Black men to show up today and show that we are leaders, that we are going to be the change that we want to see.”

Multiple generations were represented at the march. Jason Thompson brought his four-year old son to the march.

“I think it's really important to help him understand early that we have to take action to be able to ensure that our communities get the resources that they need,” he said. “I think this is a great opportunity to do that, to be out in public with other people who care about what we care about, who support what we support to be able to show our solidarity.”

Thompson says there were several issues impacting the Black community he hopes the march will emphasize.

“Education funding, Medicaid expansion, ensuring that we have criminal justice reform, making sure people have living wages, affordable housing, equality housing,” he said. “There's so many things that are just critical that we need to look at, and it really requires us to work together and demand that this policy change at the local, state and federal level.”

There were also some women at the march. Giovanni Lowe is a senior at Jackson State University.

“We're here because we think it's important that we participate in this movement as youth, because it is oftentimes at these Jackson political events a very large older population,” she said. “What will happen when we become adults? I mean, I'm 20 now, but when we're 40, who will care? Who will be pushing this change forward if the culture is to not care and to be apathetic.”

At least 100 people showed up to the capitol building. Although the numbers were not indicative of the title of the rally, Franklin, the founder of Jackson’s Thousand Man March, says he and other organizers plan to continue organizing.

“A lot of people say that marches are performative,” he said. “A lot of people say the marches have played out, but I can tell you one thing that's absolutely positive. Doing nothing is not going to work either.”

The Thousand Man Marches were organized to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the historic ‘Million Man March,' which was held October 16, 1995, in Washington, DC.