KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the aftermath of a few fatal shootings on Prospect Avenue, Kansas City Councilman Jermaine Reed tossed out an indecorous proposal to change the name of the aforementioned street to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
Huh? Change the street’s name? Are you serious?
1. Nevermind the school board debacle.
2. Nevermind the fact the Kansas City School District lacks accreditation.
3. Nevermind the horrible murder rate in KC.
4. Nevermind that new government estimates show that from August 2010 to August 2011 only Atlanta has lost more jobs than Kansas City (12,600 jobs lost).
5. Nevermind how both the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals duped the taxpayers out of $500 million to renovate their aging stadiums only to return the favor by becoming the cheapest, most poorly-ran franchises in professional sports.
Obviously, none of that matters.
According to Reed, renaming Prospect in honor of Dr. King is critical to reversing the impropriety and subhuman nature of Kansas City’s most infamous strip.
“This is more than just renaming of the street. This is a movement,” said Reed during a press conference on Thursday. “This is about how we transform our community one block, one community at a time.”
To those unfamiliar with Prospect, it’s a street commonly associated with shootings, illegal drug activity, crime and prostitution. Prospect is so bad, the street once had its own series on HBO.
There are ample studies out there that show, nationwide, streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tend to be located in chronically-impoverished neighborhoods.
This data alone leads one to believe those areas are among the most violent.
Ironically, Reed’s speech comes a day after three people were shot near Prospect and 26th. Two of the victims died. The third remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Still no word on the suspect(s) because Kansas Citians are too afraid to give tips. Hell, you stand a better chance of forcing President Barack Obama to speak out on the black unemployment crisis than you do getting a crime tip in KC.
“You stand here are see three people get shot and see how you feel,” said Valerie McMillian who witnessed Wednesday’s shootings.
To add insult to injury, there are some who claim the name change is merely a publicity stunt. “I feel like all this that happened here, this press conference it’s a crock of mess,” said Kenneth Scott who owns a barbershop near the crime scene.
“It’s just horrible, it’s just horrible man. Y’all know that it’s horrible. Something needs to be done in this area to promote black business. Not promote (the Ad-Hoc Group Against Crime) and not promote Jermaine Reed.”
Maybe Mr. Scott is right.
Maybe the street-naming proposal is nothing more than a publicity stunt geared towards uplifting the impertinent agendas of Reed and other political parties. I don’t know Mr. Reed. And I don’t see the need to dump on this character. Nevertheless, I have a very important favor to ask of him:
Could you please abstain from tarnishing Dr. King’s impeccable legacy?
As I previously mentioned, every Martin Luther King Jr. Street seems to be located in crime-riddled, municipality-corrupt, business-challenged communities. Conversely, Dr. King stood for socioeconomic growth.
Dr. King stood for racial harmony.
Dr. King stood for marriage and family.
Dr. King stood for political, legal and social justice.
Prospect Avenue, quite sadly, exudes none of the above. Cops spend more time eluding crime than confronting it. Black-on-black infliction is so frequent, city leaders receive sympathy cards from the Ku Klux Klan. Tax dollars are routinely wasted.
8-year-olds are taught how to “get paper” by dealing drugs and executing five-finger-discounts.
Young girls can do the booty-shake before they reach kindergarten.
My goodness. Changing the name to MLK Avenue would be equivalent to placing a mobile home park smack dab in the middle of Beverly Hills.
It simply doesn’t make sense.
Mr. Reed, if your proposal comes to fruition, we, the people, will be forced to endure heinous acts of black-on-black crime on MLK Avenue every night on the 10 o’clock news. I can already hear the news anchors now:
“Earlier today on Martin Luther King Avenue, three black men were shot. Two are already dead. And the third remains peacefully sedated in ICU.”
Mr. Reed, your name change proposal, to be frank, is insulting to Dr. King’s legacy and border-line insolent. America has already disgraced him enough.
Why the need to follow suit?
During his final hours, Dr. King often discussed the death threats he received and how his days were fatally numbered. Yet, he laid his life on the line anyway so that you and I could live in a world of dignity and peace.
Today, black-on-black crime has hit fever pitch. Our songs, movies and art tend to disseminate repulsive, distorted views of African-American culture in a manner that now appears irreversible.
Blacks are typically bogged-down by glass ceilings.
70% of black women are single and too many foolishly embrace it.
How’s this for putrefaction? There are more black men rotting in prison than excelling in college. Roughly three black men die per week in KC. There are so many crackheads running rampant today, they should form a union.
Pardon my candidness. But, if Dr. King were alive, he’d simply turn his back on America and walk away. Hell, he would probably question himself: “Did I really die for this?”
Councilman Reed, I implore you to leave Dr. King’s legacy alone.
Instead, shift your focus to cleaning up the large bundle of cow manure that continues to pile up in your respective jurisdiction.
Wayne Hodges, an MBA from St. Mary University, is the Editor-in-Chief of MassAppealNews.com. He also serves as a business/political columnist with The Atlanta Post and he’s a movie critic and journalist with ILoveBlackMovies.com. Wayne welcomes your comments 24/7 at whodges@massappealnews.com
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