‘Even the Klan never marched into a church.’ Cleaver rips tactics of pro-Paseo group
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver struck a conciliatory tone the day after last week’s MLK-Paseo election, when Kansas City voted overwhelmingly to remove Martin Luther King’s name from one of the city’s main streets.
“The voters have spoken,” he said in a statement, urging a consensus approach going forward in future attempts to honor King.
But in a Sunday appearance on MSNBC, the Missouri congressman compared tactics used by some supporters of restoring the Paseo name to the Ku Klux Klan.
Cleaver tore into members of the “Save the Paseo” group for staging a silent protest at Paseo Baptist Church when advocates for retaining King’s name on the boulevard were holding a rally on the Sunday before the election.
“Even the Klan never marched into a church where the SCLC, (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) which I was involved with, was holding a rally,” said Cleaver, the first African American to serve as mayor of Kansas City.
“It just doesn’t happen. And I was there at the church when that happened and stood up and just said, ‘Hey, I know some of you don’t understand church and so forth, but you don’t do this in a church.’”
Cleaver made the remarks on “PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton.”
Tim Smith, one of the organizers of “Save the Paseo,” pushed back on Cleaver’s characterization of the protest and his reference to the Klan.
Smith, who described himself as “a son of the black church,” said photographs of the protest show the group included both white and black members.
“Just disheartening to see after an election when people had an opportunity to have their voices heard that Congressman Cleaver would continue to go down this path of racially divisive rhetoric… We had tried our hardest to do everything in a peaceful way,” Smith said.
“Not one racist comment came from our side. Not one racist incident happened throughout this process.”
Smith accused Cleaver of hurting Kansas City’s image by appearing on MSNBC to criticize the vote.
A long-time supporter of renaming the boulevard for King, Cleaver lamented the fact that the issue was decided during a low-turnout election when no major races were on the ballot.
“It’s an embarrassment. We’re the largest city in the country that does not have a tribute to Martin Luther King by naming a street,” Cleaver told Sharpton.
Cleaver said supporters of naming a street for King will continue to pursue the issue, but that it should not be left up to a citywide vote.
“I’d like to do it where there’s not a city election. I’d like for it to be done like we do most of the street names and that is the city council votes to approve a name and it’s over. That’s the normal procedure in Kansas City and I was mayor eight years,” he said.
