God Damn it!!! Kansas City's Black Clergy owe the local blogosphere money if they cash in on the P&L Dress Code Controversy!!!

KSHB had an amazing story yesterday about a secret meeting between the politically active contingent of the local African-American clergy and a representative from Cordish regarding the controversy over the bigoted dress code and discriminatory enforcement at the P&L District.

During the interview what struck me most is that a member of the Kansas City African-American clergy delegation was up front about using straight up extortion tactics right out of the Jesse Jackson play book.

"One thing we can do, or they can do, is to get some black businesses down there," Reverend Kenneth Ray said. "We might feel more comfortable when you talk about dress code because you'll have some black businesses there."

Never mind that there aren't even many local businesses at the P&L District.

Of course this strategy offends me not because it's an obvious shakedown tactic but because LOCAL BLOGGERS WON'T BE GETTING PART OF THE HUSH MONEY!!!

I've been blogging on this topic since the beginning of the year along with a host of other bloggers who have all weighed in on the obvious discriminatory tactics used by Cordish with their "keep out the people of color who listen to hip-hop" policy.

IT'S TIME KANSAS CITY'S BLOGOSPHERE GOT PAID WITH CORPORATE HUSH MONEY GIVEN THAT WE HAVE FAR MORE INFLUENCE THAN TIRED OLD AFRICAN-AMERICAN PREACHERS!!!

That's not to say that the Black clergy don't have their rightful place at the table, certainly their gift for oratory far surpasses what stutter prone bloggers are capable of . . . But this is the first time I've heard of these preachers uttering a peep on this topic and they have obviously cut to the front of the line.

It's just an example of old school thinking on the part of Cordish who didn't realize that the "secret" meeting was a setup and the Revs played the clueless executive by OBVIOUSLY providing a tip to local media about the time and location of the sit down in order to garner press coverage.

TKC EXCLUSIVE (!!!): One of the few local reporters who doesn't hate me told me as much . . . A member of the contingent was selling this story starting on Wednesday. She declined the invitation and stands by her decision.

As I noted previously, these guys are good but they are not as relentless or committed to complaining as local bloggers like TKC!!!

Therefore, I suggest that Cordish also meet with Kansas City bloggers in order to work out the details of our hush money payments . . . I'm willing to settle for 20 free drink coupons or their equivalent value of 2k. The blogger meet-up to discuss this is coming soon. There will be punch and pie.