HBO doc ‘Stockton On My Mind’ chronicles Mayor Michael Tubbs’ journey

The HBO special follows Tubbs' journey from everyday citizen to the country's youngest mayor

Jul 22, 2020

It has been eight years since Mayor Michael Tubbs made history as the youngest person and first Black man to be elected mayor of Stockton, California and the world will get to learn more about his journey in the upcoming HBO documentary Stockton On My Mind.

Here’s the description:

The film follows millennial Tubbs’ personal and political journey and explores how growing up amid poverty and violence shaped his vision for change. At 26 years old and on the same day Donald Trump was elected in 2016, he became the youngest mayor of a major American city and set out to lead his beleaguered hometown in a different direction.

Stockton was ground zero for the subprime mortgage meltdown in 2008 and then became the first major U.S. city to declare bankruptcy. Now as Stockton’s first African-American mayor, Tubbs is launching some of the boldest policy experiments in the country to lift up his city of 300,000 residents. Born to a teenage mother and his father in prison, Tubbs felt his destiny was “set up” for either prison or death. Challenging expectations, he got a scholarship to Stanford and returned home to Stockton to “UPSET THE SETUP.”

Directed by four-time Emmy winner Marc Levin, Stockton On My Mind tells a powerful story about Tubbs and the community he grew up in.

Levin’s work as an independent filmmaker dedicated to telling powerful, real stories in a unique, authentic style has earned him four DuPont-Columbia awards, the Peabody Award, the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Recognized as one of Politico’s Top 50, Fortune’s 2018 Top “40 under 40,” Forbes’ 2018 list of the “30 Under 30,” Tubbs has paired his leadership with an ambitious progressive agenda that has received national recognition.

Since taking office, Tubbs secured a $20 million private donation to launch “Stockton Scholars,” which will provide up to $4,000 to help students pay for college or trade school. He also worked to bring “Advance Peace” to Stockton, a program that works to reduce gun violence in communities by identifying and engaging the less than one percent of Stockton’s population known to commit gun crimes. Mayor Tubbs also launched the nation’s first-ever municipal level basic income pilot, known as the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration or SEED.

Stockton On My Mind premieres July 28 on HBO and will be made available to non-subscribers for free the following week.

Check out the trailer: