Posted on May 7, 2023
Civil rights leaders demand Kansas City Manager Brian Platt resign over ‘culture of racism’
328
7
1
4
4
0
Leaders point to the surveillance of Andrea Dorch, the former head of the civil rights department, and her subsequent resignation as evidence of a City Hall administration that "oppresses Black people."
A coalition of civil rights leaders and organizations in Kansas City are calling for City Manager Brian Platt to resign, and calling out Mayor Quinton Lucas for being complicit in creating what they say is a culture of racism inside City Hall.
“This hostility towards African Americans at City Hall is emblematic of the hostility and hatred that results in the broader culture,” said Rev. Vernon Howard, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City. “Our civil rights organizations have had enough of duplicitous rhetoric, posturing, pontificating about Black issues while presiding over an administration that oppresses Black people and leaves Black businesses out in the cold.”
A coalition of civil rights leaders and organizations in Kansas City are calling for City Manager Brian Platt to resign, and calling out Mayor Quinton Lucas for being complicit in creating what they say is a culture of racism inside City Hall.
“This hostility towards African Americans at City Hall is emblematic of the hostility and hatred that results in the broader culture,” said Rev. Vernon Howard, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City. “Our civil rights organizations have had enough of duplicitous rhetoric, posturing, pontificating about Black issues while presiding over an administration that oppresses Black people and leaves Black businesses out in the cold.”
Civil rights leaders demand Kansas City Manager Brian Platt resign over ‘culture of racism’
Posted from kcur.org
Kansas City
Surveillance
Rights
Racism
Culture
Posted 12 mo ago
Responses: 1
3
3
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."City officials point to 2020 and 2023 mortgage documents that require Dorch to maintain her principal residence in a Lee’s Summit house as a condition of her loan as evidence she was violating the city’s residency policy. Dorch maintains that while she does own a home in Lee’s Summit, her primary residence is located in Kansas City, Missouri — and tax records confirm she’s owned a Kansas City home for more than two decades. She alleges the city used the residency requirement to retaliate against her after she raised concerns about the Meta project.
A report Dorch published prior to her resignation alleged that city officials waived requirements that Meta developers hire a certain percentage of minority- and woman-owned businesses. The report also alleges that city officials, particularly City Manager Platt, pressured her and her office to look the other way on the Meta project.
“In a city where Blacks lag so far behind in every category of economic wellness, the government's unwillingness to ensure a just share of economic wealth from a billion dollar project is unacceptable,” Howard said. “These decisions work against Black economic equity and inclusion.”
Howard also said city officials have neglected the recommendations made in a public report detailing issues of racism within the Kansas City Fire Department.
Howard and civil rights leaders made three demands to the City Council: reinstate Dorch in her position, implement the recommendations made in the report about the Kansas City Fire Department and amend the contract with Meta to include minority- and woman-owned business requirements.
Marvin Lyman, a local Black business owner, pointed out that Dorch’s departure from the city contradicts the mayor’s efforts around reparations in Kansas City.
“It's an insult to create a commission on studying reparations when we have the very administrator responsible for securing our participation discriminated against and forced to resign,” Lyman said.
“We cannot be serious about fairness, equality, diversity, inclusion, and equity when our practices are discriminatory, when our practices are racist and sexist at the very core.”"
..."City officials point to 2020 and 2023 mortgage documents that require Dorch to maintain her principal residence in a Lee’s Summit house as a condition of her loan as evidence she was violating the city’s residency policy. Dorch maintains that while she does own a home in Lee’s Summit, her primary residence is located in Kansas City, Missouri — and tax records confirm she’s owned a Kansas City home for more than two decades. She alleges the city used the residency requirement to retaliate against her after she raised concerns about the Meta project.
A report Dorch published prior to her resignation alleged that city officials waived requirements that Meta developers hire a certain percentage of minority- and woman-owned businesses. The report also alleges that city officials, particularly City Manager Platt, pressured her and her office to look the other way on the Meta project.
“In a city where Blacks lag so far behind in every category of economic wellness, the government's unwillingness to ensure a just share of economic wealth from a billion dollar project is unacceptable,” Howard said. “These decisions work against Black economic equity and inclusion.”
Howard also said city officials have neglected the recommendations made in a public report detailing issues of racism within the Kansas City Fire Department.
Howard and civil rights leaders made three demands to the City Council: reinstate Dorch in her position, implement the recommendations made in the report about the Kansas City Fire Department and amend the contract with Meta to include minority- and woman-owned business requirements.
Marvin Lyman, a local Black business owner, pointed out that Dorch’s departure from the city contradicts the mayor’s efforts around reparations in Kansas City.
“It's an insult to create a commission on studying reparations when we have the very administrator responsible for securing our participation discriminated against and forced to resign,” Lyman said.
“We cannot be serious about fairness, equality, diversity, inclusion, and equity when our practices are discriminatory, when our practices are racist and sexist at the very core.”"
(3)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google