KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Stop the violence! That was the message behind a march on Monday meant to bring attention to the number of homicides in Kansas City this year.
With a hearse leading the way and the Marching Cobras bringing up the rear, more than 100 community activists, leaders, police officers and families of homicide victims walked in solidarity to say stop the violence.
The group started near Swope and Chestnut and ended a half-mile away at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
Pat Clarke, who organized the march and rally, appreciates that people all over the world are protesting against police brutality and racial injustice. But he said Kansas Citians need to stop killing each other.
“How come it’s a big deal every time whites kill us? White men been killing us for years, but how come we don’t get upset when it’s the guy my mother took care of?” he asked. “When you talk about ‘black lives matter,’ who do they matter to?”
Clarke said the demonstration wasn’t meant to take away from the black lives matter movement. He just wants the community to be equally concerned about the violence that continues to be a problem in the city year after year.
“When you have people rallying in the Plaza, talking about black lives and we have black lives being lost over here, I think it’s time for all of us to come together and talk about it together,” he said.
According to data from the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, 82 people have been killed in KC so far this year. That’s 22 more victims than this time last year.
Most of those killed have been black men as well as their suspected killers.
There have been four deadly officer-involved shootings in KC over the same time period, two of which involved KCPD officers.
“We do have a lot of good black men that are worthy of making it in this world,” said Georgia Brown, who attended the rally.
Brown works for Kansas City Public Schools and has seen some of her former students murdered.
“I try to let the kids know, you not out here by yourself. If you need anything, reach out. Let us know because we won’t know unless they tell us,” she said.
“It’s just an ongoing thing,” said Elysha Miller, who was also at the rally.
Miller has a 23-year-old son. She said stopping the violence can’t happen until the community addresses why it’s happening. She added that it’s a “domino effect.”
“Why is there black on black crime? Is it because of economics? Lack of health care? We don’t have affordable housing? We have to ask all of those questions of why we have these situations that we have,” Miller said. “It’s just an ongoing thing.”
It’s open dialogue organizers said starts with people willing to acknowledge that there’s a problem.
“We are marching for solutions, conversations,” Clarke said.
Some people at the march said they were disappointed that there weren’t as many people willing to stand together for this issue, like so many have done on the Plaza, protesting police brutality.
“I just feel like everything that took place on the Plaza should’ve happened over here,” Miller said. “We need our voices heard on this side of the economic wall [Troost], too.”
