Local organizers are hosting a funeral and comedy performance for the death of xAI in Memphis.
Tigers Against Pollution (TAP), a student-led organization that has been vocal about their opposition to xAI, will host a “Funeral For The Future” comedy performance and funeral march on Saturday, November 8 at Robert Church Park.
Organizers said this event is intended to be a “happy one” as they protest a continued lack of transparency from elected leaders.
Zoë Donndelinger, an organizer with Tigers Against Pollution, said they are mourning the potential future of the city in which local leaders are complicit in outcomes that are not constituent focused.
“They do not have our backs economically,” Donndelinger said. “They do not have our best interests at heart. We have what it takes as a people and a community to not allow fascism in the city of Memphis and not comply with techno-fascism.”
Projects such as xAI have been touted as adding significant economic development to the city, however Donndelinger said citizens have yet to see the benefits from these projects.
Instead, projects such as xAI continue a pattern of Memphis residents being used as “testing subjects” in social experiments. Donndelinger emphasized that citizens are at a heightened vulnerability now, as they face cutbacks of crucial government programs such as the supplemental nutritional assistance program (SNAP.)
The organizer noted Memphis’ history with environmental racism, predating the existence of data centers. As a result, these issues continually have affected other outcomes in the city such as poverty and crime.
Donndelinger cites parties such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as factors in “manufactured environmental racist pollution.” They added that historically Black and brown communities often feel the effects at a disproportionate rate compared to other residents.
“While a lot of our leadership likes to blame our city for the way that it is right now on crime, they neglect that we have these environmental issues that are poisoning people and making people do things they wouldn’t normally do,” Donndelinger said.
At the event, TAP hopes people consider what a future marked by xAI looks like for the city, but also what they can do to take proactive measures.
“If we continue to allow this AI data center to operate in Memphis, there will be drastic consequences to not only our environment [and] the sanctity of our democracy,” Donndelinger said. “We’re basically going to be creating a worse future for the children that will inherit the earth.”
TAP is asking citizens to consider if they’re willing to be “the next Elon Musk failure” or if they’re willing to activate people power to initiate change.