Lucas, on Today Show, says Black mayors’ group text a source of support in tough times
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas, navigating a 2020 that’s brought a global pandemic and social unrest, says he’s found a group of peers he can lean on for assistance.
Lucas was one of seven Black mayors featured on NBC’s Today Show on Friday morning, with most of them talking about a group text they’ve created as a forum for sharing ideas.
“We’re talking to each other about things like, ‘Do you have a curfew? What are you doing in terms of controlling or quelling protests?’” Lucas told the Today Show’s Craig Melvin. “And at a time like this, with a country as divided as it is, this has been vital for us.”
Birmingham, Ala. mayor Randall Woodfin echoed Lucas’ words about the importance of their communication.
“As heavy as our jobs are,” Woodfin told the Today Show, “we depend on each other for solutions.”
In a separate video posted by the Today Show, Lucas said the absence of competitive tension made the group a safe space.
“In some ways from this, we get everything,” he said. “And I respect all my mayoral colleagues around the country, but this is just different. It is just so important to not have somebody who’s trying to come at you, who’s not trying to run for your seat, who’s not trying to kind of limit your career.”
Lucas also was asked what made him originally want to become Kansas City’s mayor.
“It was kind of a rejection from what I thought was a more material path for me,” Lucas told the Today Show, “and instead one that brings me back to making the differences for young people.”
Other Black mayors interviewed by Melvin were Levar Stoney (Richmond, Va), Adrian Perkins (Shreveport, La.), Frank Scott (Little Rock, Ark.), Chokwe Lumumba (Jackson, Miss.) and Steven Reed (Montgomery, Ala.).
