Hundreds rally at Kansas City park on International Worker's Day

Yahoo

02-05-2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Protestors gathered by the hundreds on Thursday for a May Day rally supporting workers' rights.
It's a part of a nationwide effort to rally on May 1, which is International Workers Day. The rally and march started and ended at Ilus Davis Park, tucked between City Hall and the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri.
While some folks came to support workers' rights, others came to protest the Trump administration.
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'Mr. Trump takes an oath that he will defend and protect the Constitution, but he's doing everything other than protect the Constitution,' said protester Henry Stoever.
He thinks the president's proposed tariffs would ruin the USA.
'I'm afraid that he's going to bring this country down to its knees with his tariffs that he is imposing and the games that he's playing. It's a real betrayal of our own government and I would like to see him impeached.'
Sharon Al-Uqdah was one of the speakers at their kickoff rally. She said that the changes being made at the federal level will impact Americans for generations.
'It's important for my grandchildren, it's important for my children and if I'm not out here doing this today, you know, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.'
She said that she's worried that the USA's allies will begin to abandon us over Trump's policies.
'When we lose allies, we become available for anybody to hurt us as a country.'
Others in the crowd, like George Sharp, want to see Americans united.
'I just want to show people that we're all so alike in so many different ways and the administration that we have right now is trying to divide us,' he said.
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Sharp, like others at the rally, say it's time for an end to extremism.
'I'm getting so tired of extremism on each side,' he said.
'We need reasonable grounds for change,' Stoever echoed.
'And we can't be extreme one way or the other.'
Meanwhile, Taylor Srader-Pearson said she's marching for LGBTQ rights.
'I'm just worried that, marriage equality is going to go away,' she said.
'You never know with these guys.'
The hundreds that protested in KC were a part of a nationwide movement to protest on Thursday. Protestors said it's encouraging to know others are expressing some of the same concerns they have.
'Civil liberties is at the core of our government,' said Stoever.
'And the people are expressing their civil liberties by saying this is not tolerable.'
'Doing this shows you just how much of a common bond that we have as Americans,' said Sharp.
'It just feels like there's so much hate in this world right now. I'm just trying to, I don't know, do something about it. And I just want people to start being nice to each other.'
Srader-Pearson said she hopes to look back with pride at the protests that she attends.
'When my kids or my grandkids ask me, 'What did you do once it's in the history books?' I want to say and be proud that I stood up for us and I stood up for your future.'
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