By Kendrick Calfee | The Kansas City Star
Thousands gathered to “March for Democracy” in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, voicing concerns about what several marchers called an overreach by the federal government on citizens’ rights.
Furrowed brows, smiles, shouts and tears occupied the faces of passionate protesters, who bellowed chants that echoed off the concrete sky-rise buildings.
By midmorning, thousands of marchers lined the sidewalks of 13th Street, wrapping around several blocks from Oak Street to Main Street. The massive crowd walked a little over a mile from downtown to the west side of Union Station, culminating in a huge gathering on the lawn of the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
The march brought people together with a collection of causes weighing heavily on their hearts, some deeply personal.
‘Truly horrifying and offensive’
Susan Wyssmann, 73, said her daughter works for a federally funded grant program that teaches children about the environment. That program, she said, was slashed among other federal cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk.
“I am sure there are government inefficiencies,” Wyssmann said. “But to take a sledgehammer and crash agencies, jobs and rights of people without any kind of due process … is truly horrifying and offensive to me.”
Kansas Citians are among thousands across the country feeling the effects of a federal workforce reduction. Some have previously spoken to The Star about losing their jobs and feared effects of fewer federal workers.
Many in the crowd on Saturday said they shared similar fears. Several picket signs were decorated with messaging against Musk and President Donald Trump.
People with megaphones positioned throughout the crowd on Saturday led chants, including, “This is what democracy looks like,” “Hey hey, ho ho, Elon Musk has got to go,” and “Love, not hate, makes America great.”
Cars passing by on the street beside them obeyed signs reading “honk for democracy,” prompting loud cheers.
‘Threatening our democracy’
A mother among the crowd said she decided to march because she was deeply concerned about government overreach.
Pushing her toddler in a stroller, Michaela Meckel said the federal government was going against her values and that she wanted to raise awareness.
“I’m really concerned about threats to free speech,” Meckel said.
Meckel discussed the Trump administration’s immigration policy and its attempt to use a wartime law to allow certain deportations. She said using a war law at a time of peace concerned her.
“I think free speech and checks and balances (in) our Constitution are all so foundational to what makes America a place that has been, you know, a world leader for so long,” Meckel said. “And I think the current policies are really threatening our democracy and our ability to be a leader in the world.”
Protesters Kim VanMaren and her husband Roger VanMaren arrived at the march well before it began.
Kim VanMuren said she believes she has seen a gradual dismantlement of the democratic system as she once knew it.
“We both see executive power taking way, way too much space, way too much power, way too much word away from the other balancing factors of our of our federal government,” Kim VanMuren said. “We’re frustrated that Congress is not standing up and assuming their responsibilities to balance power.”
Drums and voices boomed around them as Kim and her husband spoke to The Star about their concerns. They called on more people to speak up, saying the massive turnout Saturday was encouraging, but that the march itself would not be enough.
‘Really makes me angry’
Roger VanMuren, a former school district superintendent, said he was concerned about the Trump administration’s executive order to dismantle the education department. Neither he nor his wife had attended an organized protest before. But a laundry list of unknowns prompted them to come Saturday, he said.
“Kids are being told they’re of no value when you get rid of the Department of Education, especially the marginalized,” Roger VanMuren said. “That really makes me angry.”
Sitting on a concrete slab near Union Station, Linda Jurkiewicz, 66, criticized the federal government for what she said she feels to be a lack of diplomacy.
“I am shocked that we’ve gotten to be a country of such ugliness,” Jurkiewicz said.
Jurkiewicz said she feels like much of the nation is not well informed on current events and called for younger leaders to get more involved in the democratic process. Partisan politics have driven a wedge between “real problem solvers,” she said.
“And I will admit, honestly, I mean, I wish I did more,” Jurkiewicz said. “I wish I called my senators, you know, I wish I did that stuff, wrote them, and I don’t do hardly any of that.”
Attending the protest with her grandmother on Saturday, Chloe Fischer, 19, said feelings of hurt and hope can live at the same time.
A University of Missouri Kansas City student studying journalism, Fischer said she felt compelled to march for freedom of the press and free speech.
“It’s important to be able to empathize with other people,” Fischer said. “When other people are under attack, that’s still important to me, even if it doesn’t affect me personally. Other people are just as important.”
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