Thursday, November 07, 2019

Kansas City Residents Feud Over The Paseo Being Renamed Martin Luther King, Jr.!

The Paseo will remain.
Kansas City, Missouri has a population of 524,000 residents. It shares borders with the Kansas side of the city. Kansas City covers four counties and covers 320 square miles.

Okay, The Paseo is a famous boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri. As many as 40,000 vehicles pass through the 15 mile stretch of roadway. The road is a part of the city's history.

A year ago, they named a portion of the boulevard after slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The dedication was a honor to a civil rights leader who fought for the protections of people of color.

Conservatives love to rewrite history about King. They conclude the fallacy that King was a Republican and supported their ass backwards policies. King was vilified by conservatives. If he was alive today, the far-white would conclude that King was a race hustler, charlatan and racist.

Anyway, The Paseo sits on the east side of the city. It's mostly predominately African American and folks are split on the decision.

A group of residents intent on keeping The Paseo name began collecting petition to put the name change to a vote and achieved that goal in April.

The campaign was divisive.

Supporters of The Paseo name say city leaders pushed the name change through without following proper procedures and ignored The Paseo's historical value.
The city will remove the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard signs as of this week.
"I think that only if you ar black child growing up in the inner city lacking the kind of resources, lacking the kind of images and models for mentoring, modeling, vocation, and career, can you actually understand what the name on that sign can mean to a child in this community," said Reverend Vernon Howard, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Tuesday vote mattered.

Residents voted to have the road returned back to the The Paseo.

"This issue was much bigger than race," said former city councilwoman Alyssia Canady. "It was about the democratic process, integrity, and trust in the civil process as well."

Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City said that the voters decision on the naming of the road will be honored. He said that the city was long overdue for a honorary road. The city will now decide on another road to name in honor of King.

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