Inequality & COVID-19 have created a powder keg across the country: Kansas City Mayor

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers to break down the civil unrest the city is facing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: So I want to turn to some of the protests that we have been seeing lately. Last night, of course, there was large protests happening in Washington, DC, that were then cleared out by the president, seemingly for what looked like a photo op, essentially, in front of St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. Protests however, of course, spreading elsewhere, including Kansas City, Missouri, where more than 20 people were arrested last night as a part of the protest.

So I want to bring on Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. We've chatted before. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us again. So I want to ask you about what you've been seeing over the last couple of days and nights in Kansas City.

QUINTON LUCAS: Well, you know, I-- we've actually seen a lot of people who came out to be peaceful, came out to be heard. And at the end of most of the nights, much like you've seen in Atlanta, in so many other places and Louisville, we had conflicts, conflicts between the police and between the protesters. And in many ways it reflects so much of what we've been trying to move beyond.

When we talk about the death of George Floyd, we talk about communities that are uncomfortable with how they're policed. We're talking about needs for people to work together even more closely, and we are not meeting that moment right now in our conversation in America. And unfortunately that's the situation we're seeing in Kansas City now as well.

KRISTIN MYERS: So, Mayor, talk to me a little bit about economic inequality. We talk a lot about how that is a lot of the fuel for some of the fire, so to speak, for the anger behind these protests. So talk to me about that, specifically in Kansas City but even more broadly in the state of Missouri. I mean, I know Ferguson, St. Louis is just about four hours away from Kansas City. So what is the picture like in terms of economic inequality inside your state?

QUINTON LUCAS: So economic inequality is-- in many ways, economic inequality plus historical racism plus, frankly, the fact that we're not funding, I think, core central things like health have created this almost powder keg that we have of communities that feel disinvested in, overpolicing, right, and under-resourced. And that's what we see in Kansas City. That's what we see in St. Louis. That's what we see in every American city that I've had the opportunity to visit, every mayor that I've talked to.

And while we are talking about solutions to the current moment-- and yes, every police department in America needs to re-evaluate its use-of-force policies-- there is an additional challenge, which is how do we actually change and make more equitable our communities? How do we make sure that government, government policies, and what cities do is actually helping to perpetuate equality instead of doing things like having zoning restrictions and so many others that actually limit opportunities?

And then COVID presents an interesting challenge which I think is not unrelated to our current moment, which is the fact that so many businesses that were closed, right, were black-owned businesses, small businesses, barbershops, beauty shops, restaurants, right, which a lot of people-- a lot of different races own all those things. But if you go to any inner city in America, right, that's largely-- and those are often the businesses that exist there, those businesses that needed foot traffic. And so I think you are seeing that economic pain mixed with our historical discrimination mixed with terrible cases year after year of police brutality, and it has created a powder keg in Kansas City and a real challenge for mayors around the country.

KRISTIN MYERS: So I'm really glad that you mentioned that challenge piece for yourself and for other mayors in cities just like yours across the country. As the mayor of Kansas City, what do you view as your duty moving forward to address some of those inequalities, address some of those structures and systems of racism and of oppression, and what would your call be to other mayors in other cities across this-- across the different states?

QUINTON LUCAS: You know, one thing is that we all need to know that we're in charge right now, even if we don't want to be. You know, I'm not here to be in a partisan political discussion, but I think it is fair to say that the president leaves a lot to be handled by governors and, in some states-- situations, mayors particularly in states like mine where the governor is really close to the president of the United States and his world view.

And so we need to step up. We need to try to find as many creative ways as we possibly can to build business-relief funds, for example. We need to find as many situations as we can to address policing fundamentally. I mean, and I think right now it's time for mayors to be creative.

You know, a few weeks ago-- and it passed last week-- I made a proposal that has now been seen in a lot of other American cities relating to having dining on the streets, closing down more streets so that businesses could expand their footprint so that they could serve food and beverages out on the streets, right? That's how we're using the public round to both address the COVID issue and our financial concerns.

I think we need to have a conversation broadly and nationally about de-escalation of police tactics, right? That's going to be the next step.

And, frankly, there is no template right now. That's what I would say to any mayor. It is on us. We should work together. We can call together, but Lord knows we're not having any conferences anytime soon. And so be as creative as possible to try to address these needs because you're a model not just for your city but for so many cities around our country.

KRISTIN MYERS: Do you think this is that moment that change will actually happen, that we'll see-- legislatively that we see in terms of policy initiatives that something is actually being done on a local, national, federal level to address, again, these systems, these structures that already exist and also the economic inequalities that exist between the races?

QUINTON LUCAS: You know, I hope so, right? I mean, every year we have a situation like this, but we don't have something quite like this, right? We have, sadly, tragedies of black men who have been killed while in detention, OK? But what we don't have is every city having a moment.

You know, here in Kansas City, I'm not far from Topeka, Kansas, right? Topeka, I don't know, has maybe 150,000, 200,000 people, right? There aren't a lot of wild things that happen there, and they had a protest the other day.

A college town nearby, Lawrence, Kansas, has its protests the other day. Other communities throughout our country have been part of this moment. So this isn't like the Los Angeles riots where we saw some LA riots and then maybe for a day or two people in other cities were mad. This is like a hundred American cities, and it's growing, and it's continuing, and it's sustained because I think there is pain here. And I think what we need to do is make sure that we're coming up with as many policies as possible to help address it.

KRISTIN MYERS: Mayor, I want to bring this conversation back a little bit to coronavirus. We obviously saw coronavirus highlighted a lot of, you know, economic, health-access differences between different communities. I'm wondering as, you know, states, as cities decide to move forward with reopening and improving access and all of these things, are these protests holding that progress back?

QUINTON LUCAS: I don't know. I'm going to be completely honest. You know, people have asked me, you had all these state-- well, you still have an order that is limiting business capacity right now and restrictions on businesses, and we have thousands people protesting. How does that work? And maybe it doesn't. You know, a lot of them are wearing masks.

But I think there are so many people who are saying that this moment needs to be addressed. It can't be ignored. It can't be done through Zoom, right? There's the saying, right, the revolution will not be televised. Well, we need to be out there on the streets in connection with. A lot of people feel that way. And as long as my people are out there, then their mayor is going to be out there and trying to come up with the best solution we can to address these problems long term.

KRISTIN MYERS: Mayor, last question for you because when we were chatting, you know, amongst ourselves a little bit earlier, I was thinking because we had a conversation again a couple of weeks ago about how coronavirus was impacting your city. I know that the city has been hard hit economically. I'm wondering how the city is being impacted even further with these protests. I mean, I know that you guys have had to bring in more police officers. You're, I'm sure, paying more in salaries for overtime. I mean, are your budgets here being stretched thin?

QUINTON LUCAS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, there's not a mayor in the country who's saying, hey, I'm good, right, unless perhaps they had an exclusively property-tax-based funding model. But no, we are in a position that's tough.

And it's unfortunate because this was a strong time in the American economy and a strong time for a lot of American cities. Frankly, we were at a high point, in some ways, in the American city. Many were becoming safer. Many young people, old people, folks of all ages were moving back into traditionally underinvested communities or downtowns that had been abandoned for some number of years, and that miracle that we were seeing may come to an end.

It's going to require us to actually come up with a real plan long term. I hope our federal government does pass further stimulus funds to help support local governments because in the event they don't, we'll be in for some tough times. And importantly, this will impact the economy.

You know, the federal government is a huge employer, but state and local governments are too, and unlike the federal government, we have to balance our budgets. That's going to mean probably tens of thousands of Americans who are out of work, and those are folks that have good, steady, stable middle-class jobs throughout our country and in places just like Kansas City. That's going to be a legacy that is an impact of this, and we need to make sure that we're not underassessing how important it is for all of us.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, well, we'll have to leave it there. Quinton Lucas, Kansas City mayor, thank you so much for your time today.

QUINTON LUCAS: Thank you.