‘Undeterrably committed’: Ongoing protest at KC city hall calls for police reform
Below downtown Kansas City’s towering city hall building, more than 25 tents have been set up as part of an occupation by protesters demanding police reform.
Deemed “the people’s city,” the protest site was organized in response to a Kansas City police officer who put his knee on a pregnant woman’s back with her belly on the ground.
Police said the woman had interfered with the arrest of a suspect on Sept. 30.
Now in its third day, organizer Stacy Shaw, an attorney who represents the pregnant woman, said the protest has been peaceful and orderly.
“We will not leave unless our demands are met. We have three demands,” she said. “Or until they physically remove us.”
Their demands include the firing or resignation of Police Chief Rick Smith, the removal of the officer involved in the pregnant woman’s arrest and a 50% cut to the police department’s budget with funds reinvested in “life-affirming institutions,” such as education, health care and housing services.
’Our Valley Forge’
After months of protest, Shaw said at a press conference Sunday night that demonstrators chose to occupy city hall because the recent arrest showed “there is no end to the brutality” of KCPD.
“We treat animals better” than how the officer treated this mother, Shaw said as the pregnant woman sat next to her. “They are trying to exterminate us even before we are born and we have had enough.”
In concern for safety, Shaw and demonstrators only referred to the woman by her first name, Deja.
She, Shaw said, was hardly able to speak or walk after spending time in the hospital. Until her child is born, Shaw said, it will be impossible to know what damage was done to her and her baby.
Shaw criticized Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas for failing to speak out about the officer’s treatment of Deja or call for a vote to terminate Smith.
If Lucas fails to meet the demands and the call for Smith and the officer’s termination as well as a 50% divestment from the police department, Shaw said, a recall effort is possible.
“We will accept nothing else,” she said. “You will resign, you will be recalled before we quit.”
The demonstrators, Shaw said, are in it for the “long haul.” They are well organized and hope to show an image of what a city without police could look like.
“This is our Valley Forge,” she said. “We’re facing a new revolution.”
Demonstrators, she said, want to be a constant, non violent, reminder to public officials of their cause.
“We are not going to be ignored any longer,” she said.
Organization
Organizer Ryan Sorrell described the protest as “a militant and joyful resistance.” While it has been focused on the treatment of the pregnant woman, Sorrell said “it’s also a larger story around Kansas City about police killing Black people mercilessly, and without remorse and without accountability.”
Leading up to the entrance of city hall, a statue of Abraham Lincoln was plastered with signs: “Remove Chief Smith,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “Who Killed Donnie Sanders.”
Sanders was shot by Kansas City police in March. The 47-year-old was unarmed. No one has been arrested.
Over the summer, protests ignited by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis prompted Kansas City demonstrators to call for justice for Sanders and other men shot by Kansas City police. Days of protests filled Kansas City’s streets with marchers demanding an end to police brutality and tear gas deployed by police.
On Sunday morning, Jalisa Davis walked up to the Lincoln statue with her family, including her four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son.
She supports the firing of Chief Smith.
“The brutality he allows in his department is toxic and he continues to maintain the narrative that he’s not doing anything wrong,” Davis said.
She said she believes it is important for her children to learn to peacefully stand up for their rights and to know they can change the world.
Near the statue were areas with food, coats and books. Masks are mandatory when not eating or drinking and they are supplied with hand sanitizer and thermometers. Hand sanitizer and temperature checks are required regularly, Shaw said. There are security patrols at night.
Daily press briefings will be held at noon every day.
“We are well organized and fortified and undeterrably committed,” Shaw said.
Kansas City Police Department Capt. David Jackson said Sunday morning that he did not believe any arrests had taken place at the site.
Shaw said she is “unclear” on where Lucas stands on the protest. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 1:22 PM.
