KC civil rights group doesn’t want ‘minuscule’ J.C. Nichols Parkway renamed for MLK
A leading group in the recent push to rename The Paseo for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has come out against renaming the “minuscule” J.C. Nichols Parkway for the late civil rights leader.
In a press release Wednesday, the Kansas City chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King founded, said it still wanted to see a “major boulevard or thoroughfare” named for King.
“J.C. Nichols Parkway would not be appropriate,” said the group, one of the most prominent proponents of renaming The Paseo for King, which was undone by a citywide vote in November.
Chris Goode, a Board of Parks and Recreation commissioner, had proposed in a letter to his colleagues earlier this month that the city remove Nichols’ name from the parkway and the iconic fountain on the Country Club Plaza. The parks department, which governs the city’s boulevard system, will run a public comment process before the board makes any decision.
In his letter, Goode said the parkway could be renamed for King and the fountain be called the Dream Fountain, but he said those were just suggestions. Goode told The Star the point was not the new name — but rather removing Nichols’ legacy.
“The point is that we cannot celebrate men who were overt, outwardly known racists,” Goode said.
Nichols, who developed the Country Club Plaza in the 1920s, perpetuated racial segregation on both sides of the state line through restrictive housing covenants that prohibited owners from selling their homes to racial and ethnic minorities.
“The goal is to get J.C. Nichols’ name removed,” Goode said, “and anything that pushes that aside and swiftly moves to the renaming portion misses the point.”
Goode said he had the “utmost respect” for the SCLC, and their opposition was enough to convince him that renaming the parkway for King wasn’t the right option.
In 2018, the SCLC and a group of ministers primarily from the East Side approached the previous parks board about renaming The Paseo for King and were rebuffed. They collected signatures to put the issue on the August or November 2018 ballot, but fell short.
At the same time, then-Mayor Sly James formed a citizens commission to hold public hearings and make recommendations on how to honor King. That commission recommended The Paseo as a third option behind the forthcoming single terminal at Kansas City International Airport and 63rd Street.
Council members briefly debated naming the street “Martin Luther King Jr. on The Paseo,” a compromise that never gained traction. After numerous delays, they voted 8-4 in favor of the name change. Weeks later, crews began installing the first signs along the boulevard. After the November vote, they started to take them down and put Paseo signs back up.
In the release, the SCLC said its principles in proposing a name change on Paseo “centered upon connecting that name change to real impact upon Black life, a cause which Dr. King and our work here at SCLC-GKC has been wed for almost half a century.”
The SCLC wants a major street named for King to honor “the unmatched global, national and local impact of Dr. King.”
J.C. Nichols Parkway runs just six-tenths of a mile on the Plaza, from Ward Parkway on the south to 43rd Street on the north.
The group also wants the name change to translate to “economic leveraging and investment for Black urban businesses and residential areas” and “cultural and educational empowerment for Black children whose lives and aspirations matter.”
In the release, the group noted renaming J.C. Nichols Parkway “could make a statement about this generation’s regret of the society’s past wrongs.” But the short parkway doesn’t meet the group’s standards.
The release goes on to say J.C. Nichols Parkway hasn’t boosted Black businesses.
“Simultaneously, mainly white businesses on the Plaza have profited from Black consumer spending while Black businesses in the urban core and elsewhere suffer from a lack of white consumer dollars contributing entrepreneurial inequity, stagnant Black business growth and Black business failure,” the release says.
It adds: “Most Black children would never see and be inspired by Dr. King’s name in that location as young Blacks are socially unwelcomed on the Country Club Plaza, as attested to by historical curfews banning their presence.”
Goode said that he’d like Nichols’ name removed and possibly replaced with a temporary street name. Finding a new name for the parkway and fountain, he said, should be a transparent and equitable process.
“The goal is to remove J.C. Nichols’ name from J.C. Nichols parkway and J.C. Nichols memorial fountain — period,” Goode said.
The parks department scheduled a public comment session for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Blue Parkway.
It plans to hold a virtual comment session at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 24.
More information can be found at kcparks.org/engage, and questions and comments can be directed to KCParksEngage@kcmo.org.
