On Friday at 4:30 p.m. a coalition of hard left organizations will be holding a rally at the Oppenstein Park in Downtown Kansas City to protest the apocryphal problem du jour–yes, of course, “white supremacy.”
The organizers are turning their focus on local elected officials. These officials have a choice, say the organizers, to either stand up and oppose Donald Trump’s allegedly racist executive orders, “or acquiesce to the death culture of white supremacy.” To this point, Mayor Sly James has thrown in with the protestors. He many soon come to see that appeasement is not a useful long term strategy.
The groups involved in the protest include KS/MO DREAM Alliance, One Struggle KC, the Muslim Civic Initiative, KC QOC, and SURJ-KC. They do not seem to be in a negotiating mood. Despite the fact that both Kansas and Missouri gave Trump large majorities of their votes, the Reject White Supremacy Crowd has laid down some ferocious demands:
“We will demand that our electeds use the entire reach of their power to prohibit their cities’ police departments from complying with federal immigration authorities. We will demand public condemnations of Trump’s orders. Finally, we will demand that our electeds publicly issue plans on how they will decrease police and state violence in communities of color generally.”
One could argue that an increase in police protection might be useful in a city that saw 127 of its citizens murdered last year, the great majority of them black and brown, but that would be contingent upon finding progressives willing to engage in an honest argument. They are not likely to be found at Oppenstein Park on Friday evening.
Hat tip to Tony’s Kansas City for the lead.
