MORE2 Pursues Racial Equity in the Kansas City Area

The largest city in Missouri, according to the 2020 Census, Kansas City had a population of 508,000, of which 28.2% were African American. Although Missouri was considered a slave state during the Civil War, and slavery was not officially outlawed in the state until 1885 (the Emancipation Proclamation notwithstanding), there are a couple of interesting anomalies in race relations in Kansas City.

One anomaly was in population distribution. For instance, in 1860, the U.S. Census showed 190 African American residents in Kansas City, but the number grew to nearly 8,000 by 1880 (4.3% and 14.2%, respectively). Yet, the 1880 Census indicated that African American families could be found in almost every section of the city, which continued to be true for several decades.

Another anomaly is related to mayoral elections. The first mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, a white man, was elected in 1853. Not surprisingly for a former slave state, it wasn’t until 1991 that the City elected an African American man, Emmanuel Cleaver, as its 51^st mayor. He served two terms. The anomaly is that despite only slightly more than 25% of the population being African American, the City elected two other African American men as mayor – consecutively (Sly James, 2011-2019, and Quinton Lucas, 2019-).

Although these are encouraging indicators, complete racial equity isn’t a reality in Kansas City or anywhere else! Sometimes the prejudice and malice lurk in a human heart; sometimes they are embedded in laws that perpetuate inequity. Certainly, Kansas City has its share of codified discrimination, but it is not representative of the state of Missouri, which tends to be much more conservative and prone to passing laws that often create or perpetuate racial inequities.

Fortunately, not everyone turns a blind eye to injustice. Located in Kansas City, Missouri, but with an impact that straddles the Missouri/Kansas state line, the MORE² organization has confronted issues of inequity since 2004.

Faith-Based MORE² Speaks Truth to Power on Social Justice Issues

Organization: MORE² (pronounced MORE Squared, and the abbreviation for Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity)

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Formation: MORE² is a social justice organization representing different faith traditions, cultural backgrounds, races, and economic means. Founded in 2004, the group originally included 12 congregations, but now is comprised of 32 congregations, at least four advocacy organizations, and numerous individual members. MORE² is committed to transforming communities, and building a Kansas City area that embraces all people and offers everyone the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential.

Mission: “As people of faith, we are called to break down barriers that divide us by race and class. Rather than providing services or programs, we work to change policies through grassroots movement, in ways that promote racial and economic equity in Kansas and Missouri.”

Structure: A board of directors meets monthly and is comprised of six representatives from member organizations. In addition, a six-member staff includes the executive director, a director of voter engagement, a Kansas faith + democracy table organizer, and three community organizers (KCMO, “Our Voices,” and Wyandotte County).

MORE²religious leaders meet monthly to “maintain a moral lens” on the organization’s equity work and shape the vision of congregational-based organizing within MORE², and provide a “theologically prophetic perspective that drives the work. Monthly clergy caucuses meet separately in both Missouri and Kansas, and welcome religious leaders of all traditions who seek to further racial and economic equity.

Currently, MORE² has four active task forces:

• Criminal Justice – task forces in both states work to dismantle mass incarceration, address unjust policing practices, and increase opportunity for those touched by the criminal justice system.
• Education – promotes equitable, quality public education for all students (equitable funding, quality governance, and fair creation and implementation of policies that impact students and their families).
• Healthcare – works to expand quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare for all.
• Immigration – works to address everything from comprehensive immigration reform around the country to local issues involving interaction with immigrants and law enforcement.

The organization’s impressive list of victories includes initiatives to provide improved access to health and housing; registering hundreds of voters in lower income census tracks across the metro; saving Kansas City Public Schools from complete decimation when the school district faced the threat of becoming an entirely charter school system; helped pass a Missouri state statute to eliminate the lifetime ban on food stamps for people with drug convictions; passed Ban the Box legislation, which removed criminal history questions from municipal employment applications, as well as from both rental and employment applications.

In the areas of work and transportation, MORE² worked in coalition to pass an increase of the minimum wage in KCMO; won Raise Up Mo and CLEAN, an ethics reform in Missouri in 2018; won Sunday Bus Routes in Kansas City, Kansas; and ensured a Community Benefits Agreement on the Christopher Bond Bridge, with MODOT, to gain workforce training for women and people of color.

MORE² was able to gain public commitments from Kansas elected and appointed officials to prevent mass deportation and fear among immigrants; won Welcoming Proclamations across the Metro; ensured “sanctuary” commitments from area congregations; and provided legal services and information to hundreds of immigrant families in Kansas and Missouri.