‘A person’s life can’t be taken back’: After protest, Plaza visitors on Sunday reflect
Martin Davis came out to the Plaza Sunday morning to pray.
The 34-year-old food truck owner said it’s clear the recent killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was wrong.
“But this should not be the way that we react to it,” said Davis, gesturing to a brick parking garage on JC Nichols Parkway spray-painted with vulgarities. “This is violence.”
A night of protests brought flames, broken windows and tear gas to the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. About 50 people were arrested and 10 injured, police said. Protesters threw water bottles at officers, with Capt. David Jackson, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman, estimating more than 100 rocks and bottles were thrown.
Less than six hours after the violence peaked, a couple dozen people arrived Sunday morning to pick up trash.
Willy Evans, 27, was one of the people who arrived early to clean up. He joined in the protest until about 7 p.m. Saturday, leaving when the tear gas started. At that point, he said, police became agitated at what he perceived as peaceful protesters.
“It took us like an hour and a half to clean up the trash,” Evans said Sunday morning, trash bag in hand. “And with a power washer, this graffiti on the signs and on the buildings is going to be cleaned up in a matter of hours.
“But you know, George Floyd’s family can’t wake up in the morning and get his life back . . . there is damage that is reparable, trash can be cleaned up, but a person’s life can’t be taken back.”
During the protest Saturday, some businesses, including several near the east end of the Plaza at W. 47th Street and Wornall Road, were damaged. Windows were broken at a cupcake shop, a shoe store, a health cafe and a restaurant.
Dismembered mannequins sat behind a smashed window at Ricca Sposa. The bridal shop off Ward Parkway was one of the few damaged Plaza businesses accessible to the public early Sunday. Police taped off the entertainment district, restricting access to help business owners assess damage and make repairs.
Kansas City police captain Jonas Baughman did not have an exact count early Sunday of the number of Plaza businesses vandalized, but said more were undamaged than damaged. The Plaza had previously announced it would be closed over the weekend, from 4 p.m. Saturday until 11 a.m. Monday, because of the protests.
Saturday’s protest, which followed others in cities across the U.S. — Atlanta, Minneapolis, Portland and elsewhere — felt more tense from the beginning than Friday’s protest, which ended mostly without serious incidents.
About 4 p.m. Saturday, some 400 to 500 people arrived at the Plaza for a protest sparked by the death of Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis. Floyd died May 25 after Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer, applied his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while he lay prone and pleading to breathe while in handcuffs.
Police used tear gas to try to disperse the crowds gathered in Kansas City Saturday with limited success. Several businesses were damaged as police said people were trying to break into them. A police car was set on fire. Gov. Mike Parson declared a state of emergency.
“This was declared unlawful hours ago,” Jackson said about 9 p.m. Saturday. “We have deployed tear gas in order to disperse the crowd.
“We’re going to take some people into custody when we see it,” Jackson said. “We’re not going to sit back and allow anything to get out of hand.”
Myesha Wards, 28, was out walking by the Plaza Sunday morning. She lives nearby, but didn’t join in the protests. Wards stayed home with her children instead.
“This is not going to help the situation,” she said, gesturing across the street at the taped-off Plaza. “If [police] are killing us for nonsense, this is not going to help. This is actually making them madder and feeding fuel to the fire. You can’t fight violence with violence.”
Sunday morning, Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forté posted a message on Twitter about the protest.
“Many are shocked this morning. I’m not because the pulse of some segments of the community indicated that we were sitting on a powder keg,” he wrote. “Discussion and action regarding perceptions and realities of police mistreatment of minorities should be ongoing.”
As of 10 a.m. Sunday, one masked sign-holder was at the corner of West 47th Street and JC Nichols Parkway, a couple yards from a pile of filled trash bags and a large wooden cross leaned against at tree. His hand-drawn sign read, “No gods no masters all cops are bastards.”
A second hand-drawn sign was leaned against a post. It read, “Thank you KCPD you are appreciated.”
Nearby, Davis, the food truck owner, was joined in prayer by Derrick Kindle, who was also out surveying the damage. He believes the location of the protests was strategic.
“Down on 35th and Prospect, there’s no life. See, everything down there’s already been blighted. It’s already tore to hell,” he said. “This is a good example of life, this Plaza . . . this is where hope is.”
Kindle, 58, asked: “Where are our leaders?”
“That is the question right there. We have no more Martin Luther Kings, man,” Davis replied, asked God to bring peace and a sense of direction to the community.
“Lord God we just thank you today as we lift this city here up, Lord God, where there’s unrest,” Kindle prayed aloud, his hand on Davis’s shoulder. “Lord God, take the reigns, Lord God drive this thing Lord God, Hallelujah, where there is peace.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 11:48 AM.
