TOPEKA — Hundreds of Kansans chanted “f*** ICE,” carried pointed and sometimes profane signs, and sang protest songs Wednesday as they flooded the second floor of the Statehouse to rally for human rights.
Fourteen groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, El Centro and the Sierra Club, joined forces to promote the rally. The crowd swelled to elbow-room only around the center of the floor, with dozens more demonstrating from the railings above.
Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, which helped organize the rally, told the crowd, “We are living in troubling times.”
“America is showing its dark underbelly,” Rieber said. “The original sins of the United States — anti-Black racism, brutal oligarchic capitalism and slaveholder Christianity — are all in power right now. The wealthy and powerful are completely protected from their criminal activity and the consequences of their actions.”
Rieber and other speakers addressed food insecurity, voting rights, climate change, health care, reproductive right, public education, and immigration enforcement — themes that also appeared on handwritten signs throughout the crowd.
Several signs referenced U.S. Immigration an Customs agent Jonathan Ross killing Renee Nicole Good in her car last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“You may have been surprised that they shot a ‘normie’ white woman in the face, but when Christian nationalism sees white people standing with the ‘other,’ they see that as treason worthy of death, and that is what we are facing today,” Rieber said.
Before the speeches began, the crowd sang lines from Woody Guthrie’s “All you Fascists Bound to Lose.” Mandy Todd, a Lindsborg pastor and director of engagement and development for Kansas Interfaith Action, led a rendition of the civil rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.”
At various times during the two-hour rally, the crowd sustained chants of “f*** ICE” and “human needs are human rights.”
Several people held signs that read: “Necesidades humans son dereschos humanos,” which is Spanish for “human needs are human rights.”
Demonstrators also carried signs that read:
“What was the $ bonus ICE got for murdering Renee??”
“Renee Nicole Good is not collateral damage.”
“Justice for Renee.”
And “Unmask and disarm ICE killers.”
One person sat on a box that read: “Salt melts ICE.”
Chris Wilson, pastor at Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, held a sign reading, “The power of the people is stronger than the people in power.” He said lawmakers were too busy targeting transgender people, public education and things that “make our state better.”
“They’re spending way too much energy targeting the few versus supporting and funding things for the larger majority of people in the state,” Wilson said.
He attended the protest with Carol Nistler, of Miami County, who said she wanted to make her voice heard about “everything” and “to remind our legislators of their real job, which is to serve the people of Kansas.”
Her sign read: “Legislators: Who do you serve?”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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