KANSAS CITY, MO. — For the past 17 weeks, protesters have demonstrated in Kansas City, calling for equal justice for African Americans.
On Wednesday night, protesters in Kansas City, Missouri, echoed the outrage of protesters in Louisville, Kentucky - devastated that Louisville police shot and killed Breonna Taylor in March and they will not face any criminal charges.
Beyond the chants of, "No Justice, No Peace," activists across the country have a list of goals to achieve equal justice for African Americans.
"This is just another example, this is another slight of this marginalized justice that the American justice system wants to give to the community, to the black community," said Stacy Shaw, an attorney in Kansas City and a civil rights activist.
Shaw said the first item on the list of protesters demands from the Urban League, the SCLC-KC, and the Greater Kansas City NAACP is to get Kansas City, Missouri, Police Chief Rick Smith to resign.
"Jean Peters Baker, the Jackson County Prosecutor, has told the media, told the public, that Chief Rick Smith has obstructed justice and not allowed her to meaningfully investigate police officers that have murdered people in Kansas City," Shaw said.
The second item on the protesters list of demands in Kansas City is local control of the Kansas City Police Department and increased deescalation polities and deescalation training for police officers.
Civil Rights activist Justice Tyrone Horn said the demonstrations are key to instigating change, and he believes the Kansas City protests are working.
In early June, Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas signed the protests list of demands for justice and reform. Included in the list of reforms, the demand for local police control and the demand for increased deescalation training for Kansas City police officers.
"We've seen municipalities, state governments move on criminal justice reform and I think protests have a very very important role in the whole movement," Horn said.
The civil rights leader vowed that protests will continue locally and nationally because it will take a long time to remove and replace unjust laws, policies and people in power. Taylor said he hopes the Black Lives Matter movement will not be a polarizing experience with police against protesters. He hopes it will be a unifying movement getting police, protesters and the community working together to ensure equal justice for all.
