Faith-based Kansas City group and advocates will host racial justice summit
KC Disciples Becoming Beloved Community Teams, a coalition of faith-based groups, will join forces with anti-racism and social justice advocates to present a Racial Justice Summit this weekend in Kansas City. Everyone is invited.
The five-hour event, set to begin at 12:30 p.m. at Independence Boulevard Christian Church, 606 Gladstone Ave., was arranged to educate the community about the role racism has played in a host of areas, including housing, economics, education, immigration, the justice system and more.
The Rev. William H. Lamar, pastor at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., and a social justice advocate, is the guest speaker for the summit. The historically Black church that Lamar leads this year was awarded control of the trademark for the name and logos of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist hate group, that was convicted of vandalizing the church in 2020. The ruling allows it to seize money from the group.
The Kansas City summit will include workshops led by local social justice organizations.
Also among the topics set for discussion is reparations for Black Kansas Citians who qualify. Members of the Mayor’s Commission on Reparations, established by a Kansas City Council ordinance in 2023, are expected to update attendees on what progress has been made in the local reparation process since the commission was formed.
“We are doing this (summit) out of our faith, values and priorities,” said The Rev. Mindy Fugarino, pastor at Independence Boulevard Christian Church. “Racial justice is a priority and faith is calling us to do this work.”
However, Fugarino said the event and the effort is not exclusive to people of faith but is open to anyone wanting to work in support of social and racial justice in Kansas City.
“We want people to understand the issues.,” Fugarino said. “We want to connect people to the work that is being done.”
Her hope, she said, is that in some way the racial and social justice work of the summit is a counter to voices of those who align Christianity and other people of faith with exclusivity and the promotion of a homogenous society. “We want the community to understand that people of faith see (social justice) work as a calling.”
