Kansas Citians march in memory of George Floyd

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's been a year-long journey of people invoking change in the Kansas City community following the death of George Floyd, who died one year ago in police custody in Minneapolis.

To honor his life, many gathered in Kansas City to say the work cannot stop. The gathering began outside Equal Minded Cafe on Troost Avenue. Through a celebration of life, Kansas Citians reflected on the social justice movement Floyd's death sparked.

Floyd died in police custody after ex-Minnesota Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. Chauvin was found guilty in April of murder in connection to Floyd's death.

"It’s kind of made everything bubble up to where other cities now are saying, well, we have a problem here," Steve Young, protester, said.

It spurred Young to protest every Friday night in front of KCPD headquarters on behalf of the men and women killed by an officer.

"We need the police to be held accountable," Young said. "We need a chief of police [who] is going to look at his officers when they've done something wrong and actually do something about it."

And that's a concern they took to the streets once again, ending up at Mill Creek Park – the epicenter of last summer's protests demanding police reform.

After arriving at Mill Creek Park, they made their way to the Country Club Plaza, taking a knee at the intersection of West 47th and Central streets.

As protesters marched around the Plaza, a person was stabbed at Mill Creek Park just before 8:30 p.m., but information regarding the victim's condition was not yet available.

Still, the sights and sounds around the Plaza protests haven't changed much.

Protesters promise they aren't going away anytime soon, and they're in this fight for change together.

Several groups, including Black Rainbow, plan to march outside KCPD headquarters at 6 p.m. on June 4 to mark one year since those began in Kansas City.