Kansas City votes to remove Martin Luther King's name from historic street

[Coventina]

Source: NBC News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved removing Dr. Martin Luther King's name from one of the city's most historic boulevards, less than a year after the city council decided to rename The Paseo for the civil rights icon.

Unofficial results showed the proposal to remove King's name received nearly 70 percent of the vote, with just over 30 percent voting to retain King's name.

The debate over the name of the 10-mile boulevard on the city's mostly black east side began shortly after the council's decision in January to rename The Paseo for King. Civil rights leaders who pushed for the change celebrated when the street signs went up, believing they had finally won a decades-long battle to honor King, which appeared to end Kansas City's reputation as one of the largest U.S. cities without a street named for him.

But a group of residents intent on keeping The Paseo name began collecting petitions to put the name change on the ballot and achieved that goal in April.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kansas-city-votes-remove-martin-luther-king-s-name-historic-n1077081

---

I have been advised that this action should not be perceived as racist.
I acknowledge that I do not live there and was unaware of the surrounding issues.
I am therefore removing my prior personal statement.

I appreciate the DUers that have provided the background information.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I hope KC becomes persona-non-grata on the world stage...

Pull the ball team. Pull every event from the city limits. KC, die a slow death economically...

[AkFemDem]

3. Why? It's a progressive city.

[Dennis Donovan]

5. A "progressive city"? That voted to remove Dr King from their street signs?

You'll have to convince me that it's a "progressive city" after that nonsense...

[AkFemDem]

9. What you're ignoring...

Is the fact the city council unilaterally changed the name - a name for a Mexican city by the way, 9 months ago. They didn’t just vote to strip MLK from a street that had been named that for decades.

[a la izquierda]

44. A Paseo is a Mexican city?

It’s a Spanish word, yes.
But it’s not a city in Mexico. Unless it’s got a longer name that I missed in my very quick skim of the article.
And yes I’m definitely being a stickler.

[whopis01]

62. Paseo is not a name for a Mexican city

It means "walk" in Spanish.

It is used as a name for types of roads along with calle, avendia, camino, etc.

[AkFemDem]

12. And maybe take a minute to look at the other elections there last night

Before just jumping to assumptions.

[jayschool2013]

15. Thank you.

KCMO is NOT a racist city.

[lapfog_1]

40. one does not "jump to assumptions"

one "jumps to conclusions"... idioms are often the hardest thing for non-native speakers to pick up on.

[dlk]

23. Kansas City is far from progressive

Granted, there are pockets of progressives. There are also large swaths of MAGAS. Missouri was the state of Quantrill’s Raiders and a slave state in the Civil War. Unfortunately, too much of that legacy remains.

[lapfog_1]

39. I'm sorry... I grew up in KC... it is FAR from progressive.

[SCantiGOP]

11. That's certainly a measured and rational response

Sure you don’t want to also kill their first born. children and salt their fields?
Kansas City is 30% black, should they also die a slow economic death?

There is already a move to name another street for Dr King.

[Dennis Donovan]

28. What?

[LenaBaby61]

16. KC, die a slow death economically...

Thanks to a very long thuglican rule by folks like Kris KKKobach and former Governor now Religious Leader Sam Brownback, they'll not be economically viable for a very long time. Dem Governor Laura Kelly has a very uphill battle there on her hands, working with all of those state-wide official fools who are ALL thuglicans there. Belch ...

[dlk]

25. Martin Luther King Blvd. is in Missouri, as is the largest portion of s Kansas City

Kansas City, Kansas is much smaller than Kansas City Missouri. It’s a common misconception.

[Pmc1962]

50. Not Kansas, not Kansas, not Kansas

KCMO is not Kansas. (KCK is Kansas City, Kansas.)

Please learn the basics before you criticize. (Really, the absolute basics, like what state and city you are criticizing.)

FYI- 80% of the residents of the Paseo are African-American and most hated the change, it was forced through without input from the community. They wanted their iconic street back.

I also voted to keep the Paseo and am fully in support of something else being named after MLK.

[AncientGeezer]

51. What the hell has Kansas crap got to do with Missouri?

[dware]

52. Nothing apparently.

Some one didn't read the whole article before commenting I'm guessing.

[AkFemDem]

2. Not exactly.

Did you check other results from the night? Democrats won overwhelmingly (at like 88% rates) voters of all color.

This specific issue seems completely separate from the local demographics, there’s apparently a lot of local sentiment about keeping the street named the Paseo and resentment that the city council arbitrarily changed the name 9 months ago without voter input.

[Coventina]

6. The name change for Dr. King was the result of decades of struggle by civil rights leaders.

It was not "arbitrary."

If I were a voter in that city, I would take the minor inconvenience in recognition of their struggle and desire to honor Dr. King.

[pnwmom]

13. If the city had followed their regular process the decision would have had more support.

The process that was bypassed protects the neighborhoods, so the black person I know there was concerned about the precedent this could set.

[cstanleytech]

34. I'm not familiar with what happened but am I correct in assuming that

Last edited Wed Nov 6, 2019, 01:45 PM - Edit history (1)

they renamed a well-known road that people in the area had grown up without asking the people of the city?
If that is what happened then it was extremely stupid for them to exclude the people from having a say.

[Rebl2]

45. That's exactly

what happened! Many would prefer a street (63rd St.) be renamed after Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a heavily traveled road in Kansa City. I think it was foolish for the city to do this without giving the citizens a say by way of a vote. Not surprised they voted to change it back to the Paseo. I live in a suburb next door to K.C. so I had no say. 63rd runs into my town from K.C. and would be happy if it was renamed after MLK in our town too! Unfortunately it is very red in my town, so wouldn’t happen I’m sure.

[MuseRider]

18. Have you ever been in KC?

They are not lacking in recognition of black leaders there. This was a bunch of city council people renaming a very large area KNOWN as a predominately black area without asking. THE PASEO is a locator in KC and has been at least as long as I have been going back and forth to KC. probably about 60 years and it was there before that.

This was not a reaction to race it was a reaction to a city decision to rename a predominantly black areas large BLVD and locator without votes.

If you have no knowledge of this city then I would suspect you should listen before setting off reactions like this. Sorry, I really like you but this is not right.

[Coventina]

22. I appreciate the additional information. It is true that I am reacting based on my personal

prior experience.

Here in AZ, when I was a young adult, Gov. Bruce Babbitt began official recognition of MLK day.
The racists here went nuts, and put the issue on the ballot, where it lost, by popular vote.
It was really ugly.

I will edit my personal comment on the story.

Thanks.

[MuseRider]

27. Oh I totally get that.

I have done that myself. I see articles from papers who are supporting what you said. I am not certain where their info is coming from and of course my info is from friends and family around the area so it is only anecdotal. I have heard talk about this but had largely ignored it since I don't live there.

I am traveling today so will check in. I am really interested in how this all shook out statistically.

Thanks. We will see how this shakes out.

[ArizonaLib]

30. Yes - with all the McCain stuff lately people forget his MLK positions

I was young during Mecham and marched with my friends down Washington for an MLK day. McCain has never done enough for me to make up for that time.

[mpcamb]

4. Mostly steps forward this election day. A few backwards.

There's more to do.

[ArizonaLib]

31. I agree

Don't allow them to divide us!

[pnwmom]

7. The person I know there who opposed the name change is black and a strong progressive

who objected to the decision coming from "on high," without following process to involve the people who live there.

And from her FB page, she wasn't the only one.

[MuseRider]

8. This is not racist.

I do not have the time to explain what I do know about this but this was not voted on as a racist thing, it was the city changing the name of a largely historic black district without asking anyone. Anyone who has ever lived there or close or been there knows The Paseo district and to rename the Blvd. was not welcomed by those living there. You can navigate when people say go to The Paseo, it is by The Paseo, it is over in The Paseo district. It was not popular to have that changed like that.

This was not a racist vote as far as I know. Everyone that I know and have spoken with in KC voted to keep it The Paseo, mostly they are people who make their living around that area in the Jazz clubs and those who live there.

If there is more info on how this was racist I will listen later on when I can but from those I know who live there and around there, one being one of my kids, this was not done as a racist reaction. **I certainly could be wrong I do not live in KC**

[bronxiteforever]

14. Thanks for the info! I am now educated on the issue!

[pnwmom]

17. Yes -- that was also my impression from the FB page of a black friend of mine there. nt

[jayschool2013]

19. Thank you

You saved me the time of having to explain the same thing.

Pull the baseball team? Fuck that.

Go Royals!

[AkFemDem]

20. I wonder how voters in New Orleans would react...

If the city council suddenly changed the name of Bourbon Street to MLK Blvd?

Or NYC if Broadway was suddenly changed to MLK Street without a vote?

How about Key West if Duval was suddenly MLK? The MLK Crawl has a really different feel to it, no?

It’s okay for historic places to keep non-offensive names. It’s okay if every major thoroughfare isn’t named after MLK. It’s okay if voters resist unilateral decisions by their city councils to change a street name.

[pnwmom]

21. Here's another point of view,

Many of the opponents were black residents who opposed by-passing the normal process, which would have involved them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/us/mlk-paseo-election-kansas-city.html

“Dr. King’s dream is real,” said Alissia Canady, a black former councilwoman who opposed naming the street for Dr. King. “And black voters won’t allow anybody, black or otherwise, to disenfranchise them in Kansas City.”

SNIP

The monthslong battle had incited an unlikely political battle in which black people for and against keeping Dr. King’s name on the street claimed they were on the side of racial justice.

Dr. Howard’s organization had led a petition drive last year to get a ballot measure allowing voters to choose whether to rename Paseo Boulevard after Dr. King. That drive failed, but the city’s elected officials stepped in and voted, 8-4, to change the name anyway. In the process, the Council did not adhere to an ordinance requiring most of a street’s residents to approve a renaming.

That amounted to “prominent African-American leaders disenfranchising black property owners and voters,” Ms. Canady said.

[christx30]

36. There is a street here in Austin called Manchaca.

Local residents call it “Manchak”. The city council voted to rename it Menchaca, after a politician and soldier who fought in the Texas Revolution. Most of the residents and nearly all of the local businesses that are on the street are fighting to keep it Manchaca. It’s been that way for at least 40 years.
Most people don’t want a decision to come from on high. We want to be consulted. I’m sure most people would ignore it and continue to say, “turn left on manchak” no matter how the council feels.

[DeminPennswoods]

24. A similar reaction to Philadelphia changing part of Delaware Ave

to Columbus Blvd. The name hasn't been changed back, but everyone still calls the whole stretch of road Delaware Avenue.

[Quackers]

26. As with anything, context is important.

In regard to your original statement, it doesn’t all fall back on you. Some of the headlines being pumped out are designed to enrage and garner clicks.

[MuseRider]

29. Exactly

It shows how careful we need to be with stories.

[bellmartin]

32. Not a racist move

This ballot item was to return the original name of the historic Paseo Boulevard, a Kansas City landmark and jewel of city planning, after the name was changed without a process that asked for citizens' opinions. The objection on the part of many was not that it was renamed for Dr. King, but that it was the renaming of an iconic thoroughfare tightly tied to the city's unique history, period.

It's unfortunate that, in order to let it be known that citizens want it to remain The Paseo, we've had to vote it out in a way that can be misconstrued. We shouldn't have been put in this position.

My take on it is that it was not changed back out of disrespect to Dr. King, and was not a racist move, and not even culturally controversial in the bigger picture. I know other liberals that agree, and suspect that there are many Kansas Citians who would favor naming a different boulevard after Dr. King. There's a Cesar Chavez Boulevard, for instance, in a section of 23rd Street, and of course, 15th Street has been Truman Road for decades. But The Paseo has a strong identity, and the city government changing the name willy-nilly was like suddenly changing the name of Times Square (or insert another iconic place name), and foisting it on the city with a tough-cookies-if-you-disagree attitude.

The street that has become notorious as the black/white dividing line in KC is Troost. Imo, that's the one they should change in favor of Dr. King.

[chowder66]

38. I was raised in the Metropolitan part of Kansas City and Troost is only a few blocks away

from the house I grew up in. My mom still lives there. I agree that Troost would be a good alternative to be renamed for the reason you cited.

[brooklynite]

33. Well, this has been an embarrassing thread

All the holier than thou chastisements from people who appear to know very little about Kansas City, MISSOURI and the issue at hand.

[SaintLouisBlues]

47. You can say that again. Embarrassing!

KC voted 76% for Clinton, 19% for Asshat.

People commenting who don't know where KC is located.

People commenting who don't know where Missouri is located (Midwest, although the Ozarks are culturally Southern).

Stick to shit you at least know a little about please.

[hlthe2b]

35. I think KC is way past due to name a major street for MLK. Note that KC is not like much of MO

it is pretty progressive. But, I can remember from childhood "the Paseo." I know it is hard not to assume it is not racist to let nostalgia overwhelm such an important memorialization, but I am going to say I think this might be the case.

I wish we could take a breath on this one.

[mnhtnbb]

56. I no longer live in Missouri. This is not my fight.

For the past 19 years I've lived in progressive areas of North Carolina. I have an experience as a progressive white woman of living for 25 years in two southern states. When we moved to St Joe, MO north of KC from the LA area of southern California I thought we were moving to the Midwest. Wrong. We definitely had moved to a southern state as time and experience has confirmed.

I posted the quote from the leader of the group that lobbied the KC city council to change the name of the historic street from The Paseo to MLK because it rings true with my experience and what I posted earlier. The black community sees a white majority unwilling to let the black community chose which street be renamed in honor of Dr. King. The black community sees an element of racism. Because of my experience living in that part of Missouri, I understand that point of view.

[Aristus]

37. "Everyone's full of shit in Kansas City! They've got about as fer as they kin go!"

Racist fuckheads are no longer up to date...

[MuseRider]

43. OOOOOklahoma!

Great play on words. Well done!

[mnhtnbb]

41. I lived in a small town north of Kansas City for 6 years--St. Joseph, MO--which is really right wing

In fact, the local newspaper is one of the few newspapers that endorsed Trump in 2016. So I was pretty familiar with KC politics from 1988-94.

So renaming The Paseo in KC without citizen input? Really, really bad move and they had to expect push back.

That said, Missouri (and Kansas City is in Missouri, not Kansas) is a southern state. The group that pushed for the iconic, landmark Paseo to be renamed after MLK made a gutsy decision and not surprisingly has suffered consequences.

To say that it's not racist is not entirely true. I suspect a fair number of those votes were based on racism. It's ok to name a street after MLK, but be careful which street is renamed. It's kind of like "it's ok for blacks to be doctors, lawyers, professional people, but not President of the United States."

My $.02 from having lived in the area for 6 years.

[hlthe2b]

48. Surely, if you live there you would know that most of Kansas City is in MO, but not all.

Kansas City Kansas--the third largest city in Kansas.

In fact the census considers Kansas City as a single statistical area: Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area

Core Based Statistical Area in: 2 states, Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS CSA, United States
2,142,419 Population
7,256.5 square miles 295.2 people per square mile

And, yes, while I too think of Missouri when I think Kansas City because most of the city does lie on the Missouri side, Missouri was a BORDER state during the civil war, not an official confederate state.

Missouri was a border state and sent many men to the armies on both sides. Nearly 110,000 men fought for the Union, while about 40,000 served the Confederacy. They fought both in Missouri and in other states.

During the war, Missouri was claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy, had two competing state governments, and sent representatives to both the United States Congress and the Confederate Congress. This unusual situation also existed to some degree in the states of Kentucky and Virginia (with West Virginia).

The Union government had achieved control by the end of 1861 and Missouri is considered a Union state, with the Confederate government functioning only as a government in exile for the duration of the war.

Yes, St. Joe remains rather conservative, but Kansas City, by contrast, is not. This fight is over tradition, however. The Paseo dates back to the mid-1800s. Such traditional names long defining a community are not readily discarded--especially without input.

[mnhtnbb]

49. Thank you for clarifying my post. Yes, there is a Kansas City, KS

but the majority of the city--and what most people think of as Kansas City--is in Missouri.

Here's a map from the 1920's which also shows the location of The Paseo.



A little review of history, though, could be valuable. Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave holding state as a result of the Missouri Compromise in 1820.



Then

Sectional conflict would grow to the point of civil war after the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and was declared unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision of 1857.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Missouri-Compromise


Believe me, this Yankee who was born in NY, grew up in NJ, and moved to St. Joe, MO after living in California for 23 years had her eyes opened once settled in Missouri. The influence of the South was very present in my experience.

[hlthe2b]

53. Perhaps you missed this from my earlier post

Missouri was a border state and sent many men to the armies on both sides. Nearly 110,000 men fought for the Union, while about 40,000 served the Confederacy. They fought both in Missouri and in other states.

During the war, Missouri was claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy, had two competing state governments, and sent representatives to both the United States Congress and the Confederate Congress. This unusual situation also existed to some degree in the states of Kentucky and Virginia (with West Virginia).

The Union government had achieved control by the end of 1861 and Missouri is considered a Union state, with the Confederate government functioning only as a government in exile for the duration of the war.

Yes, there were factions and Southern sympathies that remain today. If you lived in St. Joe, you surely are aware of Jesse and Frank James joining up with William Quantrill's Raiders after the war to continue the marauding guerilla attacks on presumed Unionists, but by 1861 the majority of Missouri residents WERE unionists.

Believe me, I know this area very well.

[mnhtnbb]

54. No, I did not miss it.

I did find, however, this to be interesting:

The council voted 8-4 to change the road's name to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard after a years long campaign led by black pastors and officials of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Rev. Vernon P. Howard, president of the SCLC of Greater Kansas City, rejected the argument that race was not at the heart of the opposition to naming the street after King.

"This is a white-led movement that is trying to dictate to black people in the black community who our heroes should be; who we honor; where we honor them and how we honor them," Howard told the Star. "That is the pathology of white privilege and that is the epitome of systemic structural racism."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/06/kansas-city-paseo-street-martin-luther-king/2506399001/

And for background from the local paper

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article237026484.html

[hlthe2b]

55. See my post #35

[Blue_Tires]

42. Dumb, and disappointing...

Of all the meaningless petty things for white folks to waste their time with, a street name (which most of them didn't even live on) wins top prize...

And don't insult my intelligence pretending these people were arguing in good faith, because if the city changed it to "Truman Boulevard" or "Strawberry Road" or whatever they wouldn't have said jack shit...

[pnwmom]

46. The only person I know in Kansas city is a black progressive

who was mad at the city for bypassing normal procedures that would have involved the local neighborhood, which was black,

Paseo wasn't the only major street that could have been renamed and she felt there were some much better choices. But they didn't give the neighborhood a voice.

[brooklynite]

58. You know that, do you?

Feel free to provide evidence.

Why not submit a letter to the KC Star proposing to rename Ward Parkway as "Truman Blvd" and see what the response is.

[Blue_Tires]

59. Am I to understand that

Kansas City has never changed a street name without massive public backlash?

It may have been awhile since I was last there, but it hasn't been THAT long...

[brooklynite]

61. The point is that there's normally a process the change Street names and they didn't follow it...

There was no engagement with the community (INCLUDING the African American community) as to which Street would be renamed.

[mnhtnbb]

57. There are deeper issues than renaming a street.

Here's an interesting editorial from the local paper, including some video of the Mayor discussing what comes next.

https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article237070109.html

[real Cannabis calm]

60. K&R