KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has appointed 13 people to serve on a commission that studies the process of paying reparations for slavery and segregation.
The Kansas City Council voted in January to form the commission.
Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who helped lead the effort, said the commission will take time to determine how Kansas City has participated in the disenfranchisement of African Americans and what repair looks like.
The following people have been appointed to Kansas City Mayor’s Commission on Reparations:
- Terri Barnes, Chair, nonprofit leader and president of the Nia Project
- Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of economics at UMKC
- Cornell Ellis, educator and founder of Brothers Liberating Our Communities (BLOC)
- Dionne King, consultant at DMK Consults
- Madison Lyman, student at Lincoln College Preparatory Academy
- Ryan Sorrell, journalist and founder of the KC Defender
- Kenneth Ford, author, Descendent Freedman Alliance (DFA)
- Fritz Riesmeyer, partner at Seigfreid Bingham
- Bridgette Jones, physician and professor of pediatrics at UMKC School of Medicine
- Kelli Hearn, housing leader, program officer at LISC Greater Kansas City
- Will Bowles, advocate with Kansas City Black United Front
- Danise Hartsfield, executive director of Communities Creating Opportunities
- Ajia Morris, urban developer and cofounder of Greenline Initiative
- Ex-Officio Mickey Dean, Kansas City Reparations Coalition
- Ex-Officio Ester Holzendorf, Kansas City Reparations Coalition
Supporters have suggested the commission could create a historical document showing the city’s involvement in discriminatory law and issue a formal apology on behalf of Kansas City.
