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Wednesday 6 november 2019

Kansas City to vote on removing King's name from street

Continued from Front name would send a nega-
tive image of Kansas City
The protesters stood silently to the rest of the world, and
and did not react to sev- could hurt business and
eral speakers that accused tourism.
them of being disrespect- Supporters of the Paseo
ful in a church but they name reject the allega-
also refused requests from tions of racism, saying they
preachers to sit down. have respect for King and
The Save the Paseo group want the city to find a way
collected 2,857 signatures to honor him.
in April — far more than the They are opposed to the
1,700 needed — to have name change because
the name change put to a they say the City Council
public vote. did not follow city charter
Many supporters of the procedures when deciding
Martin Luther King name making the change and
have suggested the op- didn't notify most residents
ponents are racist, saying on the street about the pro-
Save the Paseo is a mostly posal.
white group and that many They also say The Paseo
of its members don't live on is an historic name for the
the street, which runs north city's first boulevard, which
to south through a largely was completed in 1899.
black area of the city. The north end of the boul-
They say removing the evard is listed on the Na-

In this April, 20, 2019, file photo, public works employee Jerry Brooks changes a street sign from
The Paseo to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Kansas City, Mo.
Associated Press
tional Register of Historic Tim Smith, who organized can you actually under-
Places. the protest, said it was de- stand what that name on
The City Council voted in signed to force the black that sign can mean to a
January to rename the Christian leaders who had child in this community,"
boulevard for King, re- mischaracterized the Save Howard said.
sponding to a yearslong the Paseo group as racist If the sign were taken
effort from the city's black to "say it to our faces." down, "the reverse will be
leaders and pressure from "If tonight, someone wants true," he said.
the local chapter of the to characterize what we "What people will wonder
Southern Christian Lead- did as hostile, violent, or in their minds and hearts is
ership Conference, a civil uncivil, it's a mischaracteri- why and how something
rights organization that zation of what happened," so good, uplifting and edi-
King helped start. Smith said. "We didn't say fying, how can something
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, anything, we didn't do any- like that be taken away?"
a minister and former Kan- thing, we just stood." he said.
sas City mayor who has The Rev. Vernon Howard, But Diane Euston, a lead-
pushed the city to rename president of the Kansas er of the Save the Paseo
a street for King for years, City chapter of the SCLU, group, said that The Paseo
was at Sunday's rally. He told The Associated Press "doesn't just mean some-
said the protesters were that the King street sign is thing to one community in
welcome, but he asked a powerful symbol for eve- Kansas City."
them to consider the dam- ryone but particularly for "It means something to eve-
age that would be done if black children. ryone in Kansas City," she
Kansas City removed King's "I think that only if you are said. "It holds kind of a spe-
name. a black child growing up cial place in so many peo-
"I am standing here simply in the inner city lacking the ple's hearts and memories.
begging you to sit down. kind of resources, lacking It's not just historical on pa-
This is not appropriate in the kinds of images and per, it's historical in people's
a church of Jesus Christ," models for mentoring, mod- memory. It's very important
Cleaver told the group. eling, vocation and career, to Kansas City."q