Bill Clause, Beverly Harvey and Skie Pearson discuss with Spencer Graves activities by Indivisible Kansas City, the Solidarity School of Resistance, and the campaign to prevent CoreCivic from reopening their prison in Leavenworth.
July 4 First Fridays: Bill Clause and another volunteer with Indivisible Kansas City attended First Fridays at the Crossroads on July 4 and interviewed several humans, some of whom were recorded explaining their concerns. Bill summarized that experience with three takeaways:
Many, many more humans who had had negative views about Donald Trump were afraid of being videoed while expressing their negative opinions for fear of being identified while expressing negative views of the President of the United States. Nearly everyone were afraid, including those who agreed to be videoed. That's a sad commentary on what still claims to be "the land of the free and the home of the brave."Those who did record an opinion began by saying that there are so many things that I hate about Trump that I don't know where to start.Finally, the most repeated opinion was that this administration lacked empathy and engaged in gratuitous cruelty.John Lewis Day "Good Trouble" celebration, July 17, 6-7:30 PM: Beverly Harvey, founder of Indivisible Kansas City, invites all to a John Lewis Day "Good Trouble" celebration, this coming Thursday, July 17, 6-7:30 PM on or near "Watermelon Hill" in Swope Park. The program includes comments by Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and other community leaders and activist groups.
Opposition to reopening a CoreCivic prison in Leavenworth:
Skie Pearson and a coalition of concerned residents of Leavenworth invite you to a peaceful protest march this Saturday, July 19, starting at 9 AM at 519 Osage St. in Leavenworth to oppose the proposed CoreCivic private immigration detention center in Leavenworth. More information is available on a webpage for this "CORECIVIC OPPOSITION GROUP LV,KS" (https://citizensstandup.wixsite.com/stopcoreciviclv).
The Wikipedia article on "Immigration and crime" says, "Research suggests that public perception often exaggerates the connection between immigration and crime, influenced by sensationalised media coverage and political rhetoric."1 The Wikipedia article on "Immigration" says, "research suggests that migration can be beneficial both to the receiving and sending countries." The Wikipedia article on "Sanctuary city" expands on this, saying, "studies on the relationship between sanctuary status and crime have found that sanctuary policies either have no effect on crime or that sanctuary cities have lower crime rates and stronger economies than comparable non-sanctuary cities."
Last Sunday, July 13, the Miami Herald reported that hundreds of humans were detained without charges at Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center in Ochopee in southwestern Florida. The article also says, "Nationally, nearly half of detainees in ICE custody as of late June were being held for immigration violations and did not have a criminal conviction or charge".2
Solidarity School, July 22 and August 5 at Saint Mark Hope and Peace Church, 3800 Troost Ave., Kansas City, 7 PM:
July 22: "White nationalism in the age of MAGA" by Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.August 5: "Christian nationalism" by the Mainstream Coalition.Zoom links and other information are available from Bill Clause , m: 816-517-4083.
Clause is a long-time labor activist and volunteer with KKFI. He discusses these issues with Spencer Graves.
July 20, 2-4 PM hybrid Official Release Party for “We have to talk opera”:Bryan Baily and Spencer Graves have produced a 5-minute video with music, animation and narrative officially dubbed a "We have to talk opera". The world premier is hybrid this coming Sunday, July 20, 2-4 PM Central, in person at the Bluford Library 3050 Prospect Ave, KCMO 54128. Zoom credentials are in "pwkc.org/july20". Part 1 is 2:18 m:ss and is already available at "pwkc.org/talk", along with the text for the entire "opera".
July 18-19, 9 AM to 4 PM: PeaceWorks yard sale 8405 W. 88th Terrace, Overland Park: Jane and Henry Stoever are organizing a yard sale as a fund raiser for PeaceWorks Kansas City at their home. They are accepting donations of items any time between now and the end of the sale. Questions? Call Henry at m: 913-375-0045.
Copyright 2025 Bill Clause, Beverly Harvey, Skie Pearson, and Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 international license.
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1. Wikipedia, "Immigration and crime" accessed 2025-07-14.
2. Ana Ceballos , Claire Healy , Shirsho Dasgupta and Ben Wieder, "Exclusive: Hundreds at Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal charges, Miami Herald learns", 2025-07-13 (https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article310541810.html#storylink=cpy).
