State Rep. Cheikh Taylor (Photo from Taylor's Facebook)
- State Rep. Cheik Taylor joined the Sierra Club, NAACP and others raising concerns over pollution, asking, “Can you trust Elon Musk to tell the truth?”
The chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, State Rep. Cheikh Taylor, said Monday that Elon Musk’s planned xAI supercomputer facility in Memphis, Tennesse would hurt black residents in north Mississippi.
Taylor said putting the economy before the environment was not right, noting the high population of black residents in the area and the possible air pollution the facility would generate.
“In the State of Mississippi, the goal is to separate Republicans and Democrats on race alone. So, if you’re a Democrat in this state, you probably look like me,” Taylor, who is black, said. “And if you’re a Democrat who opposes these things, you could be of any race, of any color. But at the end of the day, we cannot allow this to happen in our neighborhoods.”
Taylor asked those in attendance, “Can you trust Elon Musk to tell the truth?” and calling the tech billionaire who oversaw DOGE “a super crony” of President Donald Trump (R).
Democratic Party Chairman Taylor joined the NAACP, Sierra Club and others at a press conference held in at a church in Southaven to speak against the xAI facility, which is being touted as the world’s largest supercomputer.
When the project was announced in June 2024, Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Ted Townsend said it would be the largest capital investment by a new-to-market company in Memphis history. Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Bill Cork said he was excited to hear that the deep south was again garnering national headlines for being a hub of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Large Language Modelling.
READ MORE: Musk’s xAI building world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis
However, since the project’s announcement, concerns over possible air pollution have led to the NAACP, Sierra Club and Democrats gathering together to oppose the project despite the billions of dollars in economic investment and its significant job creation.
Tennessee State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D) said the group is connected in the struggle against pollution. They want local governments and the Environmental Protection Agency to deny xAI’s air permit applications to operate “45 to 90” methane gas turbines in the Memphis and Southaven area.
“The paltry money xAI has dangled in front of our short-sighted leaders is not worth the cost of breathing dirty, and in some cases, deadly air,” Pearson said.
However, when the Democratic Party chair spoke, he said his message dealt with “the political side of things.”
“Right now, we’re dealing with a battle of corporations, and we know that corporations are heavily being favored by Republicans these days, and we cannot put profit before people,” Taylor said, encouraging people in the area to register to run and run for office to “take the lead on this thing.”
Frank Corder
