Faces of protest: These are the people demonstrating against police brutality in KC
Thousands of people have gathered at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City over the past several days, joining protests across the nation calling for an end to the racial injustice that has plagued the country — and our community — for decades.
Protesters in Kansas City have chanted the name of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who put his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. They have invoked the names of men killed by police in Kansas City. They have carried signs and marched for miles. They have fled from pepper spray and tear gas deployed by police.
The protesters are mothers and brothers, students and those left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic. Most are from Kansas City or surrounding areas. Some participated to voice their anger. Others gathered to listen.
They said they came to take a stand, to fight for change, to make a better world.
Torium Johnson, 42, Kansas City, mental health tech
“I just want to let everyone know we can come together for a bigger cause — police brutality, injustice as a whole.”
Drew Deily, 16, Kansas City, cashier and server
“White silence is violence, 100%. It’s just ridiculous to me, people are out here getting killed for no reason and even if they are committing crimes, that’s still not a reason for them to be killed ... the fact that people have been fighting this for centuries, like decades and nothing has happened — I will be out here in 10 more years if I have to be, doing the same thing. I just want peace for everyone.”
Maliq Ray, 18, Kansas City, college student
“I believe that everyone needs to realize that we all need to get along and just stop having so much violence and hate towards each other. It’s kind of getting old. I would like to see no profiling, people stop judging people off the color of their skin or what they look like. Everybody just needs to realize that we’re all human, we all need to be together.”
Julia Merino, 20, Kansas City, college student
“I’m tired of seeing black people getting killed constantly ... I’m tired of the racial injustice ... Over and over again I feel like I hear government officials say ‘I see you, I hear you,’ but I’m not really seeing any change, actual change, so I want concrete change. I want the police system to be better.”
Tammy Stewart, 40, Excelsior Springs, nurse
“I stand with my daughter because she’s African-American and her voice needs to be heard. Enough’s enough. The racism, the killings of blacks — I’m just out here supporting, not just blacks, all nationalities, but mainly for my daughter cause her voice matters.”
April McAfee, 21, Excelsior Springs, hospitality aid
“There’s too many killings going on with African-Americans. It’s been going on for years, we’ve been trying different ways to tell our whole community this needs to stop. It’s not. So we just need to do something about it. So if it takes for us all to come together and make signs and do whatever it takes for our voice to be heard, then you got to do what you got to do.”
Cain Salas, 26, Kansas City, college student
“I’m out here today to show my people that we can do this without violence. We can do this by standing together ... My plan is if you’ve (police) assaulted somebody five times, you’re fired, you’re out. If you’ve assaulted somebody two to four times, we need to initiate to where you go into probation ... you need to pass a psychology background test, you need to go through a de-escalation program ... If you’ve done it one time, you will be placed on probation and you will also have to take a de-escalation class.”
Roycella McNeil, 26, Kansas City resident from Crystal City, Texas, unemployed
“All lives matter. People that want s--t to be equal no matter what your color, or your race or anything like that, or your religious orientation or whatever, we all need to stand together because it’s honestly us against the government ... I would like us to riot enough days — it took MLK six or seven to overthrow the government — maybe if we can keep this up, maybe there can be change for everybody.”
Rachael Pierce, 19, Independence, unemployed
“It is important for these voices to be heard and for the names to be known. There’s too many names on that list.”
Terry Denson, 48, Kansas City, chef and cosmetologist
“It’s not fair for the ones that are supposed to be protecting us to act like we need to be shoved to the side because of what we truly believe in and that’s human life ... We should be able to sit back and relax and know that y’all supposed to protect us and not kill us.”
Fanny Mandelberger, 63, Kansas City, massage therapist and holistic occupational therapist
“I want to learn ways that I can be respectful to any group. I’m learning about my own privilege and what that really means.”
Theresa Taylor, 23, Kansas City, writer
“I’m here for everybody who couldn’t be here, I’m here for our community. I’m able-bodied, I’m able to be here. I’m privileged.”
Joanne Banks, 70, Kansas City, retired
“So many reasons. We need accountability from the police department. The police are extremely rough with our black men and boys in the city. And so many people are killing black men all over the United States and in Kansas City. Our black boys can’t go anywhere without (the police) stopping them and arresting them for no reason at all.”
Luis Ramos, 25, Kansas City, cook at Yard House
“I feel like there was a voice that I could give. I want my kids to live in a place where every color is welcome. ... I wish everyone could just get along. Hurting people’s businesses isn’t going to help.”
Stephanie Helmer, 24, Manhattan, Kansas, veterinary student at Kansas State University
“I’m just super passionate about what is happening in the world and didn’t feel like sitting home. … I’m here for my family. They are police officers. I hope by me being here I will open their eyes. I believe in equality. I think the justice system needs a transformation and the country needs a revolution.”
Jayla Johnson, 19, Kansas City
“I have two older brothers. Anytime anyone gets killed, I worry because they could easily get killed. Our lives won’t matter until black lives matter. It is what it is. Brown lives matter as well. Brown lives are being killed every day. When will we start to matter?”
Alyssa Johnson, 22, Kansas City, retail
“I’m here for them (pointing to her young niece and nephew). Just because their color don’t match mine, they are my family. I don’t want them to grow up having to do this still.”
Robinson Carter, 19, Kansas City, student at Northwest Missouri State
“The reason I’m down here is because it’s 2020 and history should not be repeating itself. Back in the day, things were bad but we thought that was in the past. Why is it coming back?”
Emily Cady, 24, Lawrence, Kansas, unemployed server
“I wanted to just make sure that there are bodies out here, taking up space.”
Kelly Miklas, 24, Detroit, University of Missouri graduate student studying archaeology
“I am here because this is ridiculous. That anyone even has to be out here is ridiculous. Black people are being killed and enough is enough.”
Olivia Lockett, 27, Columbia, archaeology student at University of Missouri
“I seriously thought about the risks of coronavirus but then I thought, this, what is happening all across the country, black people being murdered, is ridiculous. I figured I could risk my life to speak against that. It’s too important. It’s worth it.”
David Agnew, 64, Kansas City
“Police officers have a license to kill. They’re the man. The police are doing what the government wants them to do ... I think the police are putting on a big front. I don’t think those officers in Minnesota will be punished. It’ll be a cover-up.”
Kelsi Cox, 18, Independence, recent Fort Osage High School graduate
“I can’t keep sitting and watching the injustice. It is ridiculous. I can use my voice to help stop this. To help stop the killing.”
Shakedria Wells, 21, Kansas City, artist
“I have been out here every day since Friday to march for our kings and our queens, our brothers and sisters who are out here dying every day. We were marked from the day that we were born. We came out of the womb marked; he’s gonna be a criminal, she’s gonna be a single mother on welfare. No. This has been going on since the 1800’s. This has got to stop. It has been going on for generations. It has to stop here. This cannot go on for another generation.”
Manyah, 10, Kansas City
“I came so I can stop police from killing black men and women for no good reason.”
Khadijah Comeger, 24, Kansas City, hair stylist who owns a salon
“I am here because I am tired of our black men and black women being treated wrong and getting killed by white cops because of the color of their skin. I am fighting for the rights of our children.”
Holly Beckstrom, 61, Overland Park, USDA IT specialist
“I’m here because my daughter just turned 18 and so she came the first night and followed the rules and (the police) rounded them up and they gassed them from behind. They maced her first and one of the organizers gave her first aid. So I said I just can’t believe this is Kansas City. I’m going to see for myself. The next day I came with her and brought a large American flag up here for four hours just to help everybody remember that we’re all Americans and we need to treat each other with dignity and respect ... and I’ve been here every day since.”
Lauren Gochenour, 30, Kansas City, restaurant manager
“We are out here to be a part of our community to stand with everyone and to show that we want change. People protested for my rights as a woman and now I am here to do the same for their right as black Americans.”
Josh Scott, 26, Kansas City, bartender
“I’m here to help make change in this country, because it is about time that people start taking a stance against what is happening. It’s time for it to stop.”
Jayden Murphy, 16, Overland Park, senior at Shawnee Mission West High School
“Number one, I’m hurt. Number two, I identify with all this violence that’s going on out here. That’s why I’m out here. Number three, it is my duty not only for the community, but for my own kids, for my own life, for my neighbors, for the people. This is bigger than one murder. I don’t want to forget the other senseless murders that are going on down here. Period. Justice.”
Steven Maness, 27, Kansas City, banker
“I am out here doing the right thing, that is what is most important, no matter what. We are finally having the unheard voices heard. And 100% it is right to be here and to be a part of this.”
Benjamin Muriza, 22, Rochester, N.Y., student at Metropolitan Community College
“I have as much right to be here as anybody else. Being at home does me no good and no justice. We have to be heard. This is too important. This has been happening for years so if this is what it takes, so be it. But I don’t like the looting and any violence. I am all about peaceful protest.”
Taylor Alexander, 26, Kansas City, health care worker
“I’m here because this is history. I just pray that this is the end and my son doesn’t have to experience this. My son is a year old and I hope he doesn’t have to some day experience having to protest for his life.”
Paul Alexander, 27, Kansas City, self-employed
“Basically I am here to support being heard. We are at the tipping point and I feel like we are getting close to change. This current generation is different. Granted it is going to take a second, but we are close. This has been going on for so long, but now we have footage. Now everybody can see it and people are starting to wake up. It might take one more thing to happen and it’s done ….”
Khadijah Hardaway, 46, Raytown, retired hairstylist
“I’m protesting because I’m tired. I’m tired of us dying at the hands of the police. It’s not just one of us, it’s all of us — every gender and every age that are out here dying. They have too much power.”
Ashley Spight, 35, Kansas City, occupational safety manager
“I am tired of the injustice. We kill a person, we go to jail. Police kill people, they go on administrative leave. It’s wrong and I’m tired.”
Tate McCrary, 18, Blue Springs, high school graduate
“I believe our justice system was set up from the very beginning mainly to target people of color and minorities. Those kinds of situations haven’t changed. As a result, people are dying and people of color, disproportionately. I believe a lot of laws need to be passed even to be able to feel safer around law enforcement. Because that is a privilege that some of us have and some of us don’t.”
Troy Hughes Sr., 48, Kansas City, barber shop owner
“They say black lives matter, but all lives matter to me. America needs to wake up and see that we’re on a world stage right now. This is a very serious problem ... There’s not enough justice. You just hate to see that racism is still showing its face.”
Taylor Maxwell, Kansas City, public health worker
“I am here to hold people accountable by using my right to peaceful protest. Police need to be held accountable. The police need to be policed. How do you come to a peaceful rally wearing riot gear? This same type of force wasn’t used when the white people were protesting about being quarantined. We just want to live. We just want justice and equality.”
Olive Dodson, 26, California, disabled
“I’ve been treated badly by cops in KC ... I want to see change. I want to see my brothers and sisters not have to be faced with this. I first encountered racism when I went into kindergarten. I do not want that. I still deal with it because of who I am as a person. I’m viewed as less than because I am disabled, because I am brown.”
Derek Dobson, 36, Kansas City, insurance sales
“I have not been a cop, but I am a law enforcement academy graduate — Missouri Western State, 2009 — I can tell you from the inside that there is a very definite problem with militarization of the police force nationwide, warrior culture that’s seeped into law enforcement which is a big step away from community policing ... Wildly disproportionately, black and brown men are getting killed for little or no reason where white people such as myself we can storm the courthouse with assault rifles and we’re fine.”
Michema Laurent, 37, Grain Valley, self-employed
“I’m fighting for these kids. I’m trying to leave a foundation for these kids. Because adults are set in their ways; you can’t get through to them. But these kids got to live here. These black kids got to live here. These Latino kids got to live here. Anybody. ... Why we at war, consider the children who are biracial. You want them to take sides too?”
Sharkey Phillips, 46, Kansas City, self-employed
“If you say you can’t breathe, what does that mean? You’re killing him, man. When do we get to see justice? We’re tired of it. And this is just one case. This stuff happens every day in America. This is the only way we have left — to stand out here and pump our fists until things change.”
Brenda Garcia, 18, Overland Park, recent high school graduate
“I think I’ve definitely felt firsthand a fear of police and I’ve seen the effect of systemic racism. I am not black, but I am brown, and I have definitely felt that. I think it’s just important to show solidarity in this movement. I’ve grown up seeing that and I’ve grown up knowing that I should act a certain way when I’m around police officers because there’s a fear that something may go off. ... It’s gaining momentum. It’s starting to show the world what we’re really about. It’s starting to show our government what we’re really about. I think it’s a very good cause.”
Star reporters Laura Bauer, Mara’ Rose Williams, Cortlynn Stark, Eric Adler, Kevin Hardy, Kaitlyn Schwers, Judy L. Thomas, and Lisa Gutierrez contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
