TKC BREAKING NEWS MUST READ!!! KANSAS CITY COALITION OPEN LETTER DEMANDS MAYOR QUINTON LUCAS LEADERSHIP IN REMOVING KCPD CHIEF!!!

Activists, protesters, clergy and urban leaders have united in an unprecedented coalition in order to advocate for the removal of the Kansas City Police Department Chief.

This historic open letter delivers an ultimatum to the mayor and demands he answer the call of his constituents.

Whilst the mayor also confronts a demand for his own resignation from the Northland; this organized outcry for leadership from city hall represents a far greater existential threat to his administration. 

Here's the word . . .

Open Letter to Mayor Quinton Lucas

Are you not exhausted? Are you not sick and tired of the carnage that is being dealt upon Black lives in this country - George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Philando Castille, Botham Jean, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice - and in Kansas City, Ryan Stokes, Terrance Bridges, Cameron Lamb, and Donnie Sanders? These are only a few names of Black men and women victims of homicides at the hands of law enforcement officers.

How many more juveniles have to be forced to crawl on the ground like an animal, have their heads slammed on the pavement, teeth broken out, head gashed open, and choked while screaming “I can’t breathe!” before you remove Chief Rick Smith from his position and take swift action to implement the wide-sweeping excessive force reforms that our community has demanded for weeks?

How many more incidents before you lead? How many more of our Black children have to be afraid of the police? How many more Black mothers, fathers, and grandparents have to live with fear and anxiety every single time our sons and daughters go for a drive or take a walk through their neighborhoods?

Chief Smith presides over a culture of corruption that breeds a pervasive disregard for the letter of the law throughout the police department. He has allowed his department to operate without integrity and accountability since his appointment, and the result has been an array of indictments of his officers, attempts by his office to conceal officer crimes from public scrutiny, dishonest community relations, and a consistent abuse of power. The latest grand jury indictment of Sergeant Matthew Neal for felony assault of a 15-year-old child, and the road to his indictment, speaks to the systemic shortcomings of a department void of virtue, and Chief Smith’s impotent leadership.

If there is any hope for reform, transparency and accountability in law enforcement in the Kansas City Police Department, Smith must go. And you must lead the change.

On numerous occasions you have told us and others that you and Bishop Tolbert are ready to fire Chief Smith, but you don’t have the votes. Our community wants to see you stand on your convictions and do the right thing, irrespective of the politics. If you and Bishop Tolbert believe Smith needs to go, then make it known on the record. At the next Board of Police Commissioners meeting speak up for justice. Make a motion to fire Chief Smith. If what you say about Tolbert is true, he can second the motion. Make your case for Smith’s removal and call for the question. Let the votes fall where they may.

Let the public see if Don Wagner, Nathan Garrett, and Cathy Dean’s guiding principles are more aligned with perpetuating abusive practices and institutionalizing a two-tiered system of justice, where victims are denied recompense, and officers are protected from punishment for abusing their powers, rather than promoting fairness in processes, transparency, accountability, and impartiality in the administration of justice.

Our hope is that your fellow commissioners will choose to do the right thing. It is our hope that they will choose to protect and serve the community. If they choose not to do so, our community will deal with them accordingly.

Gwendolyn Grant, Urban League of Greater Kansas City
Rev. Dr. Vernon Howard, Southern Christian Leadership Conference-KC Chapter
Rev. Rodney Williams, NAACP-KC Chapter

CC:
City Council – City of Kansas City, Missouri
Board of Police Commissioners
Ad Hoc Group Against Crime
Metro Organization for Racial & Economic Equity(MORE2)
Black Rainbow
Committee to Abolish Poverty, Inc.
SURJ
White Rose KC
Unity Southeast
Sunrise Movement
KC Tenants
No Justice No Peace
Miller Dream
Jewish Community Relations Bureau
Missouri Jobs With Justice
Indian Mound Neighborhood Association
Greater Kansas City Chamber
Urban Summit
State Representative Barbara Ann Washington
Stacy Shaw – Liberty Law
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