Do you know the details of how Kansas City’s past public policies and actions created a community with a long history of segregation that led to the racial disparities of today? Mayor Quinton Lucas says a primary purpose of his Mayor’s Commission on Reparations will be to teach you that hist ory and to help you realize why reparations are an important answer to what he calls “the story of the segregation we faced and a lot of the oppression that we Blacks in Kansas City experienced.” The commission’s chair, Terri Barnes, says the commission’s report is due in February of 2027, with a first draft available in August of this year. But so far, it’s unclear what kind of remedies the report will propose and whether there will be the political will in our majority-white city to support reparations, no matter how they might be structured. Lucas assured me that, “I think we’ll get there, though it won’t be as fast as we want, perhaps.” But neither Barnes nor Janay Reliford, who chairs the Reparations Coalition, which pushed to have a commission and tries to support that commission’s work, is wildly optimistic that this process will result in a more equitable city in which Blacks feel welcome and can see a thriving future for themselves, though both hope so. Related Content Barnes, for instance, says that “because Kansas City is so small that you can get your arms around it and we all know each other, it’s devastating that we haven’t done better by our community and we haven’t had better partnerships across the aisle with white people. Devastating.” So the future seems unclear to her. As for Reliford, she told me this: “My biggest surprise is that people from all backgrounds don’t get it. And I know the reason there is apathy and rejection of it (reparations) is because they don’t get it. I thought people would be tripping over themselves about reparations, especially Black people. I would have thought we’d be like dancing in the streets, but I’m not seeing that level of excitement. I know it’s because too many don’t believe it’ll ever be accomplished. There just isn’t the buzz that should be around it, and if there is a buzz, it’s more negative than positive.” Janay Reliford, who chairs the Reparations Coalition, which works to support the Mayor’s Commission on Reparations, says she “thought people would be tripping over themselves about reparations, especially Black people. . .but I’m not seeing that level of excitement.” (Courtesy Janay Reliford) Much will depend, therefore, on how well the report outlines the city’s iniquitous history and failures — from the time of slavery until today — to create conditions that allow Blacks to live safely and equitably and to find futures in which they can thrive as well as most white people have. (The commission’s mandate is to focus on the Black community, not Indigenous people.) The researchers gathering the necessary historical information to tell this history are still working. You can help by going online and filling out a relatively brief survey. You also may share your experiences and stories with the commission at this site. Barnes is hopeful that when the final report is released, it will be “simple enough and concise enough and powerful enough that people will look at it and it will be a George Floyd moment. People will say, ‘We knew that happened, but we didn’t recognize the impact, the breadth of the impact.’ I hope there will be people who will say, ‘What can we do to make it right?’” That’s a lofty — though understandable — hope. But is it too lofty? As Barnes herself told me, “If there’s a disappointment, it’s that people haven’t said, ‘I want to be a part of this.’” But it’s not yet clear whether the final report will motivate Kansas Citians to implement the report’s recommendations. Plus, it’s not easy to grasp the depth of our city’s racial history. Terri Barnes, who chairs the Mayor’s Commission on Reparations, is “irritated” with Mayor Quinton Lucas for not being more active in promoting the work of the commission. (Courtesy of Terri Barnes) As Reliford says, “My hopes and dreams are that the public will come to a better understanding of the social construct of race and really understand that reparations is not a Black people’s issue or problem, but it’s a societal issue and problem, and that the claim is not just about the era of chattel slavery. It also includes the legacy harms, which come all the way up to today. “And I just feel like this is an opportunity for people to be more educated. It’s kind of unbelievable, for example, that there isn’t more understanding around J.C. Nichols’ development and how that has shaped how we live today.” Beyond that, neither Barnes nor Reliford feels the reparations work here has had enough support from Lucas. Barnes told me this: “I’m irritated with your mayor. When we first talked about this commission, he said, ‘We’re going to do kind of a dog and pony show and go to these corporations and get these CEOs to understand so they could help their people understand.’” But she says there’s been little of that. And Reliford put it this way: “I don’t understand why Mayor Lucas doesn’t speak on it more. We’re doing the best we can to try to engage the public and try to educate the public on it. But the city has way more capacity than we do to make sure residents are aware and informed. That hasn’t been happening from a city standpoint.” When I asked Lucas about those complaints, he replied: “Look, I appoint a lot of boards and commissions, and I tend to get flak for engagement with any of them, whether it’s the Port Authority or this one. “I think the true value is in the fact that we appointed a commission of Kansas Citians, and I think my engagement has been where it was expected. We are proud of the research they are doing, and I think I’ll continue to be an ally. I’m basically awaiting their report.” Some cities, such as Evanston, Illinois, and Detroit have completed their reparations reports and have begun to create ways to work against the racism that has been part of their histories. Kansas City is moving in that direction, but no one knows whether the report will be cheered or jeered or whether the centers of power in the city will get behind the recommendations. St. Therese Little Flower Church in the Blue Hills Neighborhood on Kansas City’s east side has had priests and members who have worked hard for decades to minimize the effects of racist city policies and actions, though it’s still possible to see housing deterioration on the same block as the church. (Bill Tammeus | Flatland) What is clear is that a famous Missourian, Mark Twain, once paid what author Ron Chernow in his 2025 biography of the humorist called “his own form of reparations.” Twain paid the “entire board for the remaining year and a half at law school” of a Black student at Yale Law School. As Chernow writes, this student later edited a Black newspaper in Kansas City, Kansas, and, after moving to Baltimore, became friends with future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. What is clear is that much of what happened to Blacks across Kansas City’s history was hateful, unnecessary, and powerful. And it’s long past time for all citizens of all ethnicities to work together to fix what was broken and still is unrepaired. Bill Tammeus, an award-winning columnist formerly with The Kansas City Star, writes the “Faith Matters” blog (https://substack.com/@billtammeus429970) for The Star’s website. His latest book is Love, Loss and Endurance: A 9/11 Story of Resilience and Hope in an Age of Anxiety. Email him at [email protected]. The post KC Reparations Leaders Uncertain Work Will Lead to Action first appeared on Flatland. ...read more read less