Kansas City Needs Our Solidarity
When we occupied Mass Street and South Park earlier in the summer after a racist banner was put up, the people of Kansas City showed up.
Their time, resources, and love went towards demanding justice in Lawrence. And with their donations and presence, Rontarus Washington Jr. was successfully freed on bail, the funds being raised in what seemed like only an instant.
Marching through Kansas City during any protest in the last few months, I could easily look around and spot people from Lawrence. While Lawrence has continued to fight against police violence in KC, now is certainly the most important time for our radical solidarity.
After a 9-month pregnant Black woman was brutalized and hospitalized by police, the people of Kansas City have begun occupying outside the city hall.
Their official demands, as articulated by Black Rainbow and Sunrise KC, are the firing or resignation of Police Chief Rick Smith, the termination of Officer Newton, and a halving of the KCPD’s budget with resources redistributed for the good of the community.
While the legal occupation on public property has settled in with shelter, water, food, heating, and radical literature and education, it has not been easy. Beyond the cold nights, the Kansas City Police Department has also waged a psychological war on the protestors.
Running on little or no sleep, a KCPD pickup truck announced the occupation illegal and threatened to seize and destroy everyone’s belongings in the darkness of the early cold morning.
Now, with a vote on the legality of the occupation expected to come tomorrow morning (potentially as early as 6am), bodies are what is most needed. If we are able to rise up together and show our support, then the only thing the police can do is drag us away. But this cannot end until the people have gotten what they came for.
This is more than just asking for some reciprocal favor between the people of the two cities: our struggle is ultimately intertwined.
Whether Portland, Standing Rock, or Palestine, we must fight the violent brutality of state repression. We must always resist the forces of white supremacy upon which our governments were conceived and continue to operate under. But when it comes to our neighbor cities, this solidarity is especially important.
Story by Daniel Davidson. Opinions expressed here are only that of the original author.
