On November 7, 2019, more than 200 people attended a 2-hour event in Kansas City entitled “Today’s White Nationalist Movement: Why defeating it matters to our fight for justice?.” It was sponsored by Poor People’s Campaign, Stand Up KC, Westport Presbyterian Church, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Indivisible KC, Congregation Kol Ami, United We Stand, Jewish Community Relations Bureau / AJC, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, KC for Refugees, Cherith Book Catholic Worker, Heartland Center for Jobs & Freedom, and the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR). Low wage workers fighting for $15 an hour wage and a union, along with homeless individuals, and activists of every stripe attended. IREHR’s Leonard Zeskind gave the keynote and IREHR put a 10-page information booklet in everyone’s hands. An hour of small group discussion followed. Rabbi Doug Alpert gave the welcoming and Rev. Rodney D. Williams, president of the KC NAACP and of the Poor People’s Campaign, gave the closing talk. The event was a step forward for everyone.
