A very red county in Tennessee didn’t have any issue with a small mostly black town when it was ran for over a hundred years by a white town council, no matter how corrupt it was. Then that council resigned amid scandal, the replacement was majority black and a Ford plant started to get built nearby. Now that town fights for its existence.

MASON, TN – On April 2, the Tennessee NAACP, along with about 70 other organization representatives and community members, gathered at the town hall in support of Mason, Tennessee’s right to self-governance. The majority-Black town of 1200 that from its incorporation over a hundred years ago until 2015 has been run by a majority White town council has been threatened by State Comptroller Jason Mumpower with takeover if it does not dissolve its charter, a move that many consider curious since a Ford Motor Company plant is set to open just ten miles away, raising financial prospects for the town.

Gloria Sweet-Love, President of the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP, announced that, as reported by CNN and other outlets that morning, the national NAACP had filed a lawsuit against the State Comptroller of the Treasury’s office for its discriminatory actions under Mumpower’s leadership.  Representatives from The African-American Collaborative, Tennessee’s Black Caucus of State Legislators, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute spoke in support of Mason,  Local and regional leaders, including a representative of the United Auto Workers showed up in support.  Chants of “Mason Matters!” occurred several times during the event, which lasted for about an hour.  Event speakers asked attendees to spread word the State of Tennessee’s discriminatory actions against Mason and its residents.

Five years ago, Mason’s leadership was largely white and the state government took no particular notice of Mason.  However, when a majority-black leadership was elected, the state comptroller immediately took an interest in the town’s finances, shutting Mason’s government down amid an investigation into the town’s utility payments.  There had been questions in town for quite some time about how the local finances were handled under previous administrations, but the newly-elected leaders were not informed of the town’s financial situation nor of the state of Tennessee’s investigation until after they were sworn in.

The new administration was able to come to an agreement with the state to make up the utility shortfall via monthly payments.  For several years the town has been fulfilling its part of the agreement.   But when the Ford Motor Company decided to open a plant near Mason, giving the town access to significant employment and revenue opportunities, the Tennessee State Comptroller arbitrarily and without precedent sent a letter to all Mason residents urging them to relinquish the town’s charter.

If this happened, local revenue and control over finances would then go to Tipton County, which is majority-white Trump supporters. 

Currently, Mumpower is demanding that Mason request approval from his office for any expenditure over $100.  There is no process in the Tennessee State Annotated Code that allows the state to make such demands.  Such demands have not been made of majority-white municipalities in similar circumstances.  As the NAACP filing states, these actions by the state are clearly based in a racist disregard for Mason residents’ well-being and right to self-governance.  The majority-white leadership of Tipton County wants the revenue from the Ford plant for itself, the state values white communities more than it does black communities, and the state is acting specifically against the interest of black Tennesseans in Mason to benefit white Tennesseans in Tipton County.  This fits into a long pattern of black disenfranchisement dating to the Reconstruction.

Though the agreed monthly payments have been taking place, Mason’s debt to the State of Tennessee is still a lever which Jason Mumpower can use in his attempt to take away the town’s right to governance by locally elected officials.  You can help the Town of Mason repay the debt incurred by previous administrations by donating via PayPal (please make sure to put “Town of Mason Donation for Debt” in the Note).