KC Tenants marches to county judge’s house, demands extension on eviction moratorium
More than 50 people with KC Tenants marched to a Jackson County judge’s home Tuesday night, demanding an extension to the eviction moratorium and calling for accountability.
KC Tenants leader Tiana Caldwell, in front of Associate Circuit Judge Kyndra J. Stockdale’s home, said they want Stockdale to ask Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs to extend his two-week eviction moratorium past Jan. 24. If he doesn’t, Caldwell said, Stockdale should shut her courtroom down.
“Judge Stockdale, our lives are more important than private property,” Caldwell said. “Judge Stockdale, our lives are more important than our landlord’s profits.”
The event was part of the group’s “Zero Eviction January,” a month of actions aimed at preventing evictions. As part of past actions, KC Tenants has protested outside the Jackson County Courthouse, marched to Youngs’ home and spent days contacting City Council members. Since July, the group has disrupted eviction proceedings seven times, Caldwell said.
Last week, Youngs issued an order to temporarily halt county employees from posting eviction notices, conducting eviction hearings or performing evictions. That order came days after court deputies with the county’s civil process unit shot — and seriously injured — a man while serving an eviction notice in Blue Springs.
KC Tenants organizer Brandy Granados said Stockdale issued more than 835 eviction notices and 361 eviction judgments during the COVID-19 pandemic — more than any other county judge, the group said. They left a banner with those numbers on the bushes outside the judge’s home.
“None of us want to see anybody else on the street, none of us want to see anybody else die,” Granados said about why they were there. Scott “Sixx” Eicke, a 41-year-old man who was experiencing homelessness, was found dead from exposure on New Year’s Day.
During the rally, KC Tenants leaders led the group in chants of “Zero Eviction January,” and “pandemic evictions, that ain’t right.”
One neighbor came outside to record part of the rally; another neighbor stepped outside and spoke with one of the 10 police officers standing nearby.
As the group marched back down the street, a few other neighbors recorded the protesters from inside their homes.
Granados, who has organized with the tenants’ rights group since it started, said she feels lucky that her landlord is willing to work with her.
“We’re in the middle of a pandemic,” Granados said. “There’s people literally dying every day. ... We want to get back to normal. If you have people out on the streets fighting COVID, how are we ever going to get back to normal?”
Caldwell said she is glad Youngs issued the moratorium, but said it’s not enough, She said there is no reason evictions should resume on Jan. 25, especially with the prevalence of COVID-19.
“My life matters,” Caldwell said. “My family’s lives matter.”
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 10:48 PM.
