Against staggering challenges and bleak situations, KC residents are finding the joy in activism

Photo by Raymond Forstater

Last month, I sat alongside over 60 people who gathered at Equal Minded Cafe to listen to leaders of Sunrise Movement Kansas City talk about public transit. As conversations carried on throughout the night, it was clear that several community members don’t have cars or access to transportation other than the current Ride KC routes, and there’s a bigger reason why.

The Sunrise Movement is a nationwide organization of young individuals fighting to stop the climate crisis and win a Green New Deal. It began in 2017 and made national headlines after conducting a sit-in with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Nancy Pelosi’s office in 2018.

The Sunrise KC chapter recently surveyed hundreds of residents on what their main struggles were—Finding bus routes was one of the most popular answers. 

Four major area cities—Kansas City, Independence, Raytown, Grandview, and Blue Springs—all voted to cut their public transit budgets for the next year.

Raymond Forestater, team lead at campaign communications for Sunrise Movement KC, says members have seen a great need for grassroots activism with neighbors, especially for Black individuals who may be harmed by incoming administration.

The organization’s better buses campaign showed up to a special session at the Jackson County courthouse last week to convince legislators to use leftover COVID-19 federal funds to expand Ride KC routes.

“They’re proposing it be put toward police and county renovations despite the fact that Grandview, Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, and Independence have voted to cut their bus service and replace it with IRIS, where workers are being exploited by the subcontractor and it costs 10-times the public transit rate,” Forestater says.

IRIS (Intelligent Roadway Information System) is an app-driven service that utilizes a dynamic routing model which picks up and drops off riders in locations within one quarter mile of their request. IRIS is funded and led by the City of Kansas City and is contracting with Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA).

Sunrise KC is prepared to stand for local bus drivers who are having their jobs threatened.

“Staying in line and taking a backseat is what the people who oppress us want us to do,” Forestater says. “Threatening that power by attending a meeting, finding community with other people who are passionate about things that you care about changing—that can help create a world we all deserve.”

As a result of the pressure from Sunrise Movement KC, County Legislator Manny Abarca introduced Ordinance 5949 that would allocate $35 million of American Rescue Plan Act money the county has to fill existing funding gaps within KCATA. 

Ultimately, the legislature is leaning toward using the county’s funds for worker salaries.

Movement leader Adin Alem spoke in the public comment period about the urgency of the situation bus riders face. 

“This legislature is currently overseeing the biggest collapse in regional transit infrastructure in the last 100 years,” Alem says. “You must act now to save our buses.”

Photo by Raymond Forstater

Level Playing Field

Over 70 people showed up at Sidekicks Saloon on a Sunday night last month for a Q&A with LGBTQ+ community leaders about a path forward after Trump was elected again.

Speakers highlighted leaders like those at PROMO Missouri who assisted in knocking down over 20 bills against the gay and trans community, with only two passing in the last Missouri state legislative session.

The LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas, Damsel in Distress Self Defense, Food Not Bombs, PFLAG of Kansas City, Equality Kansas, Missouri Kansas Queer Law Office, and Divine Bodies hosted the community’s first town hall to provide individuals hope in the wake of another Trump administration.

“A lot of us are entertainers, performers that perform in drag side gigs,” LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas organizer Nick Dungy says. “A lot of us are business owners, policy makers, everybody.”

The feeling of giving back is the most fun, he added.

“Knowing that I’m making a difference in my community… It’s important to me to know that I’m getting back what I’m putting out.”

Kansas City housing Commission Chair/LGBTQ Commissioner JD Besares spoke after the meeting, stating that activists should start locally and attend commission meetings to get on a path toward city wide change.

“Activism goes beyond a sign on a sidewalk,” he says. “You have to create change and be present, utilize social media and, as we proceed forward, even though it’s scary, it’s important for folks to know we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to continue to fight for LGBTQ rights. We can do a lot in Kansas City to isolate ourselves but we’re stronger together as a group.” 

Besares also encourages folks to continue sharing information and have difficult conversations. Speakers at the event reminded folks to take care of their physical and mental wellbeing before engaging in an emotional, uphill battle.

“We’re resilient people, especially my trans brothers and sisters,” Besares says. This is a normal part of our existence but it shouldn’t be, and we just have to keep fighting until that’s the way it is.”

PROMO Executive Director Katy Erker-Lynch says the team is prepared to face more restrictive bathroom and competitive sports bills for trans people.

“There’s a difference between the things that are filed to try to get people reelected because they’re appealing to a base that has been taught misinformation and that queer and trans people are a threat to society. Bills that actually are the primary focus of the republican party, or really what it is, is alt-right extremists,” she says.

The lie that trans folks lost the election with Kamala Harris is just that—a lie, Erker-Lynch added.

“The reality is, the Democrats have, for a really long time, said we’re too good on civil rights, and we’re losing because of that,” she says. “And I think that’s really dangerous rhetoric, and it’s time for LGBTQ+ folks and our allies to come together and not be divided by rhetoric like that. So, I encourage people to reject Democratic party and mainstream media, and to recognize that we’ve been in really difficult times before, and that the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. I’m very hopeful that we can build a liberated future.”

Photo by Raymond Forstater

Housing Hassles

The Yeehaw variety show benefitting KC Tenants sold out its biggest venue yet, raising $43,270 in one night. Organizers showed the audience that activism doesn’t always have to be banging on the doors of those in power to motivate them to do something—It can be as simple as pulling out your phone after the show, signing a petition, donating, and planning for future action. It’s an even larger perk that big comedians and musicians from across the country showed up to take part in the change. 

THUNDERGONG! has also set a gold standard for getting stars like Flavor Flav, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Tara Davis and Hunter Woodhall into town to get prosthetic arms and legs on amputees. Host Jason Sudeikis and other organizers make the night just as much about joy for the people they help while creating a sustainable budget for the next few years. 

The money raised at Yeehaw will go toward collective efforts to support those who haven’t paid rent in over two months and are living in fear of eviction.

People who care about things bigger than themselves do exist and have proved that gathering in large numbers for a cause works, no matter the type of an event. 

More results the tenant union at Quality Hill Towers are proud of include:

• A new boiler, water heaters, and flush valve replacements.
• Recarpeted and cleaned elevators. 
• Repainted doors and hallways. 
• Over 30 in-unit repairs to long-standing maintenance issues including holes in ceilings and walls, backed-up drains, and water damage. 
• A $40,000 payout (approx.) to all residents, in the form of $200 gift cards from Sentinel, a last-ditch attempt by the Corporation to incentivize rent payments. 
• Zero eviction filings since the strike launched (a major victory, as Sentinel is one of the biggest evictors in downtown Kansas City). 
• Multiple dismissals of evictions that predated the strikes and over $8,000 in rent forgiven. 

Both residents at Quality Hill and Independence Towers have withheld their rent payments over the last two months to the tune of $125,000 in response to what they claim are years of negligence by New York-based Sentinel Corporation and, separately, Trigild Property Management.

The tenant union at Quality Hill released a statement two weeks ago:

“Over the last two months Sentinel has made building-wide and in-unit repairs. Our neighbors will survive the winter with heat. We can cook in our homes. We can drink our water. None of this would have happened without union, and none of this would have happened without our strike. Sentinel Corporation has resorted to intimidation and retaliation. They won’t engage with the union but they have employed a local PR firm and a fancy law firm. They are scrambling. That’s the power of our rent; the landlord is scared, as they should be. We flexed our power and we got results. Now, as a demonstration of our commitment to reaching an agreement, we plan to pay December rent. If Sentinel fails to meet our expectations, we will have no choice but to resume the strike.”

Resident Audrey Williams says she wants to see every person live comfortably, while still upholding their rent payment. 

“I can’t handle when somebody in the building I live in is hurt from living in the building,” she says. “I can’t handle that, so that’s what I want to see—I want to see everybody safe. I can’t ask for their happiness because that’s up to them, but I want them to be safe and feel okay about living here in Quality Towers.”

Resident Carla Blessing says it’s nice to be able to rely on neighbors for help.

“The organizing itself is difficult—Wrangling people to get a turnout for meetings and actions can be really tough,” she says. “Knocking on doors or sitting out in front of the building to meet people as they come in can also be difficult, but, at the same time, I’ve got people who will do that with me. That makes it so much easier and more fun.”

Diasha White, a union member at Independence Towers, calls into question the $1.35 million payout from Fannie Mae, the mortgage financier, to address long-standing repairs.

“Are there any conditions on what that money can be used for? Can we see a receipt of where all this money is going, and why are we still not being included in talks about our homes?” she asks. “To Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson and Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almovodar, I am a tenant in a building that you are responsible for. It is your duty to provide safe and affordable housing. It is your duty to regulate this market. It is your duty to meet us at the bargaining table.”

White said that it takes more than one person to cause change to happen in this country.

“It took people coming together as a collective effort to make it happen,” she says. “It was also my daughter’s home, so that was even more of a reason to stand up.”

Union member Anna Heetmann says that the only way the slum lords win is if tenants stay hidden and believe their voices aren’t important. 

“They win if they convince us that we hold no power, but we know better,” she says. “Now, we have the majority of our neighbors withholding their rent for the third month for as long as Fannie Mae releases come to the negotiation table. We are prepared to withhold the one thing we know they care about.”

Last month, the tenants voted to reauthorize the strike and plan to continue until their full list of demands are met: permanent fixes to the ongoing issues in their homes and a collectively bargained lease agreement as a condition of any sale of the building.

On Tuesday morning a few weeks before Christmas, tenants at Independence Towers woke up without heat on one of the coldest days of the year so far. 

This is after representatives from Fannie Mae—the government-bank that owns the building—guaranteed tenants in a November meeting they would have heat this winter. 

The union sent out a press release demanding again that those in power come to the bargaining table.

If you’re feeling the pressure of creating change get to you, just look around you—odds are you’ll find someone who’s feeling the same way and could use an escape like a concert aimed at change. Activism doesn’t have to be serious all the time, it can be fun too.