Video of protester at KC police board meeting goes viral with 6 million views
A video of a protester speaking at the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday has gone viral on social media with 6 million views as of Wednesday evening.
In the video, which was posted to Twitter, the woman told the board’s members, among other things, that police should stop using Black children as “photo opportunities.”
“Eating cookies and drinking milk with children does not absolve you of your complicity in their oppression and denigration, Rick Smith,” she said to the police chief.
The comments came during a monthly board meeting that abruptly adjourned as clergy members, community groups and civil rights activists demanded that the board take a public vote on whether to remove Police Chief Rick Smith.
Police commanders and Smith left the community room where the meeting was held. Board members reconvened in closed session. Capt. David Jackson, a police spokesman, said Tuesday the gallery became too disruptive to continue business.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said Tuesday he thought the protest was “totally uncalled for.” He said he hoped “we will get to a place where we can try to do better for the safety of our community long term.”
Earlier in the meeting, Smith showed photos of children and residents that were taken during community outreach efforts.
The sessions were held this summer at city parks in each of the police department’s patrol divisions. It was sponsored by Taking it to the Streets, a church group that coordinated children’s activities and provided hot dogs and refreshments.
In an email Wednesday night, Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a police spokesman, said board members are shown a slideshow nearly every month of photographs from community events.
“It’s the department’s report to the board regarding community interaction efforts undertaken in the previous month,” Becchina wrote. “It was nothing out of the ordinary.”
Some people online praised the activist for her comments. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said she spoke “truth to power.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 7:37 PM.