On day 9, heat doesn’t stop hundreds from joining Black Lives Matter protests in KC
A few hundred protesters turned out Saturday during the ninth day of demonstrations in Kansas City in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police brutality, despite the heat.
As protesters chanted the names of men killed by Kansas City police — Ryan Stokes, Cameron Lamb and Donnie Sanders — by the J.C. Nichols Fountain, a second group of protesters called for change outside City Hall as a heat advisory went into effect.
By the fountain, several protesters carried Pride flags. Pride Month, a June celebration of the LGBTQ community, commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots. In recent years, a black stripe and brown stripe were added to the rainbow flag to represent communities of color.
Lance Pierce, carrying a flag, said he was there to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. He said he was “excited to see that white people are finally waking up” and that people of color are being heard.
Kerry Grant said he came to the protest to “bring our pride to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
The Kansas City Community Bail Fund passed out flyers to protesters. The fund has assisted about 15 protesters with bail after they were arrested.
Three police officers patrolled the park by 4 p.m., and that number had increased to more than a dozen by 6 p.m. Most of the officers, who were mainly controlling traffic, said the last few days of protests have been peaceful and that most conversations they had were with people thanking them for being there.
Dozens of packs of water were stacked in the shade as the temperature remained over 90 degrees around 8 p.m.
Protesters also marched through the Plaza on 47th Street, with just a few officers seen blocking off streets to traffic. At Nichols Road and Central Street, protesters formed a circle and chanted in the intersection before kneeling in silence.
At City Hall on Saturday, about 100 people called for the defunding of the Kansas City Police Department.
“When it comes to change, the whole system has to be changed,” protester Steve Young said. He said police need a better system to report misconduct.
He called Wednesday’s Unity March “a PR stunt.”
On the steps of City Hall, someone sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the “Black National Anthem,” as banners in the background read “KCPD who killed Donnie Sanders,” “Enough is enough,” and “Demilitarize KCPD.”
An activist who spoke about the Black Lives Matter movement said it is asking people to “step out of illusion and into reality.”
Another speaker said they are here to defund the police department and invest in the community instead.
“We could have homes, we could have gardens, we could have our health,” the speaker said.
A military vehicle was parked in front of the steps of the Kansas City police headquarters.
Earlier on Saturday, around 150 healthcare workers and students gathered at Hospital Hill Park in solidarity, part of a nationwide movement of healthcare students called White Coats for Black Lives.
Many at that protest spoke about healthcare industry disparities along racial lines, their personal experiences and the need for change.
Demonstrations across the country continued Saturday, sparked by the killing of a black man, George Floyd, by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The last few days of protests have been mostly peaceful. But in several instances during the first days, police deployed tear gas to disperse crowds and used pepper spray against protesters.
Between Friday and Wednesday night, police arrested 230 protesters. Most were accused of not complying with police orders.
This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 6:34 PM.
