On our program for July 31st, we will begin our hour and hear host Keith Brown El’s interview with Patrick Sumner, candidate for Unified Government District 2 Commissioner.
Voters will take to the polls Tuesday, August 1st for primary elections that will ultimately reshape Wyandotte County’s governing body for the next four years. The primary election will narrow the races for Wyandotte County Commission seats and determine which candidates will advance to the Nov. 7 general election. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Patrick Sumner’s personal, academic, professional, and activist background all dovetail neatly into a run for Unified Government Commissioner. District 2 covers a large swath of KCK’s eastside neighborhoods including areas west of Stateline and 18th Street on the east and from Minnesota Avenue on the north to the Armourdale district to the south. Patrick is a Kansas City native who grew up streetwise in rugged Kansas City neighborhoods. He holds two degrees in American Studies from the University of Kansas, with an emphasis on Great Plains Culture and the biographical study of the early Kansas Abolitionists.
For the second part of our hour, host Keith Brown El speaks with Narene Stokes and her Attorney, Cyndi L. Short. Narene Stokes is the mother of Ryan Stokes, Ryan Stokes, an African-American man who was gunned down by a Kansas City Police Department officer in the Power & Light District on July 28, 2013, after a drunk white man falsely accused Stokes of stealing his cell phone.
An investigation revealed that Ryan Stokes didn’t steal the phone, was unarmed and was surrendering to one officer when he was shot from behind by another KCPD officer.
The first Kansas City Police Department officer to reach Ryan Stokes after he was shot to death in a downtown parking lot has apologized to Ryan’s mother. He told reporters that he felt something missing from police departments across the country, and that is empathy and the ability to see the good in everyone and the tragedy in hurting another no matter who they are.
Narene Stokes and her Attorney, Cynthia L. Short of CLS Mitigation & Consulting Services LLC took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the case was denied a hearing.
https://www.investigatinginnocence.org/cynthia-short
On Jaws of Justice, we examine how to find justice in our society. Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
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