KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri is criticizing the tactics of a group that led a successful campaign to remove Martin Luther King’s name from a Kansas City street.
During an appearance Sunday on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton,” Cleaver was particularly upset that some “Save the Paseo” members staged a silent protest during a rally at a black church the Sunday before last week’s election, which restored the name of the street to The Paseo.
Cleaver, the first black mayor of Kansas City, said even the Ku Klux Klan didn’t enter churches at rallies during the civil rights movement.
The Kansas City Star reports Tim Smith, a black man who organized the “Save the Paseo” protest, criticized Cleaver for using racially divisive rhetoric. He said his group, which has white and black members, avoided racial arguments during the campaign.
