‘No Kings’-style May Day spotlights worker rights and justice | Opinion
There’s May Day, May Day, and “mayday!” The last one you certainly don’t want to hear your pilot shout into a microphone while flying to your vacation destination. The other two are radically different, but only one has a connection to our local economy — and might affect your Friday this week.
Friday, May 1, is known as May Day, International Workers’ Day (not the Labor Day we know in early fall). May Day serves as a tribute to workers, frequently marked by marches and demonstrations advocating for labor rights, worker safety and social justice.
In Kansas City, as in other parts of the country, it also comes with calls to boycott school, work and shopping, and to support unions.
So why do I think of May Day as some quaint pagan holiday involving dances and spring flowers? That’s likely because it’s the other version of May Day, which, technically, did come first before workers commandeered it in the late 1800s to remember labor rights. Before that — if you have European ancestors — some of your kin might have danced around a maypole to songs about love and fertility, weaving flowers and ribbons.
But this week in Kansas City, a coalition of groups is calling for union workers, students, and other members of the community to join a No Work, No School, No Shopping nationwide day of economic disruption. Some groups are comparing it to an economic version of No Kings.
Kansas City joins a nationwide effort called MayDayStrong, with more than 3,000 planned events and 500 labor unions, student groups, community organizations, pro-democracy, immigrant rights and racial justice groups.
A press release from the Service Employees International Union of health care workers says the group demands “the wealthy pay their fair share like the rest of us do; an end to ICE terror; and a democracy where working people — Black, white, and Brown — make more of the decisions about our jobs, our government, and our communities.”
I can understand calling on union workers and their allies to stand down from daily activities Friday, but I cannot in good conscience agree with taking students out of school. It’s so close to the end of the term, and this time of year means extra studying for tests and extra grading for teachers.
Still, several efforts are planned in the KC area Friday, including schools, according to the MayDay Strong map:
Kansas City
- “No Work, No School, No Shopping” rally and march, 5:30 p.m. in Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd.
- “Students Rise Up on May Day. Northeast HS Rally & Teach In,” 12 p.m., Manheim Garden near Northeast High School, 4225 Forest Ave.
- “How The Bus Will Save Us — The Intersection of Transit, Labor, and Environmental Justice,” 1:30 p.m. Inner Space Yoga, 2711 Troost Ave.
- “No Billionaires in our Backyards!” 4:30 p.m., Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park, 1123 Walnut St.
Lawrence: ”MayDay March”, 12 p.m. Massachusetts Street and West 9th Street (beginning), Watson Park (ending)
Leawood: ”Workers Over Billionaires,” 3 p.m., Lee Boulevard over I-435.
Overland Park
- “Countdown to November 3, 2026,” 3 p.m., Sen. Roger Marshall’s office, 7011 W 121st St. Suite 100
- “Shawnee Mission North (and friends!) walkout,” 1 p.m., Shawnee Mission North High School, 7401 Johnson Dr., Overland Park.
St. Joseph: “Workers Over Billionaires,” 4 p.m., North Belt Highway and Frederick Avenue, public sidewalks at intersection of Belt and Frederick — East Hills Mall side.
Citizens have the right to participate peacefully of course, but if your schools are open, I implore you to keep your kids in the classroom.
