I know a lot about Emanuel Cleaver.
As The Star’s City Hall reporter from 1985 to 1995, I covered him as a City Councilman for six years, and I covered him during his first term as mayor from 1991 to 1995.
I know the good, the bad and the ugly about Emanuel Cleaver, who has been Missouri’s 5th District U.S. representative since 2005.
You probably have heard or read by now about Cleaver’s ridiculous TV attack on members of the Save The Paseo group, which pulled off a huge win at the polls last week, leading the charge for reinstating The Paseo to its rightful and historic place in the city’s fabulous parkways and boulevards system.
On an MSNBC show hosted by Al Sharpton, Cleaver chided the Save The Paseo folks who had interrupted a pre-election rally by saying, “Even the Klan never marched into a church.”
He went on to say “people are embarrassed here in Kansas City” — referring to the removal of King’s name from one of the city’s most prominent boulevards.
…Before I go any further, let me put stakes in the hearts of those two assertions.
First, the Save The Paseo people were wrong to interrupt the pro-Martin-Luther-King-Jr.-Boulevard rally. In politics, you respect your opponents’ right to hold events and wage their campaign, and you respond appropriately. Nevertheless, comparing them with the KKK was outrageous. Cleaver uttered those words for one reason — shock value.
Second, I don’t know what Cleaver was smoking before he said “people are embarrassed” about the election outcome because 70 percent of those who went to the polls voted to change the name boulevard’s back to The Paseo. To say the general populace is embarrassed is downright laughable.
Now, here’s the most important thing you need to know about Cleaver: First and foremost, he loves the spotlight. Oh, sure, he likes to play the humble-preacher role, and he likes to talk about the need for civility in politics. But more than anything, he likes the arc lights, the microphones and center stage. An experienced preacher, he can turn a phrase and command a crowd.
So, when he got a chance to go on national TV and feign outrage and misrepresent the situation in Kansas City simply because he thought he could ignite a political firestorm, he didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t hesitate even though he knew damn good and well that the vote was in no way a dismissal of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy but, rather, a stiff arm to a City Council that rammed the King name through to satisfy the political group Freedom Inc. and a blusterous group of black ministers who are accustomed to getting their way at City Hall.
As The Star said in an editorial today, “Cleaver did not tell Sharpton there was a lot more to it…Or that ‘us’ in this us-versus-them scenario was not a monolith.”
(By the way, I’m proud of The Star for slapping Cleaver down on this, especially after kowtowing to the black ministers and advocating for the King Boulevard designation.)
What Cleaver did on Sharpton’s show — and again Monday at a community meeting in south Kansas City — was throw his city under the bus…the city he proudly led and praised and boasted about for eight years when he was mayor.
It was a cheap shot — the cheapest of shots — and he should pay for it.
Problem is he won’t. He’s essentially got a lifetime job. He’s a popular Democrat running in a strongly Democratic district. No Democrat with any sense challenges Cleaver for the Democratic nomination every two years, and Republicans are beating their heads against a wall when they try to take him on.
That’s another reason he could blow smoke like he did on Sharpton’s show; it was a free blow.
Nevertheless, here in Kansas City, we know where the real embarrassment was on this issue. It was on Cleaver. Head to toe, he is draped, painted and embroidered in embarrassment.
You are correct in everything you wrote. Thank you for sharing the truth about Cleaver. I know him too, so I know you wrote the truth.
Rather than rename the Nichols street after King, why not rename the street named after the lying car wash magnate who just embarrassed his community on national TV.
Cleaver embarrassed us once (once?) before when during a rally of outraged taxpayers at the Capitol he claimed they had hurled racial slurs and spit on him, a claim that was proven to be an outright lie when all of the cameras that had filmed him were examined. If memory serves there was even a huge reward offered to anyone who could back up Cleaver’s allegations and no one came forward to collect.
As for The Star, when Cleaver ran for Congress the first time, he ran against squeaky clean Jamie Metzl. At the time Cleaver (and his wife) had more baggage than a passenger train and The Star endorsed the crook.
Just an aside, Jamie Metzl’s father, Dr. Kurt Metzl, now retired, was our kids’ pediatrician for many years. He still rides with a bike group and has coffee almost every day at Panera, 83rd and Mission Road. Jamie used to live in Washington…Wikipedia says he’s still there, with an organization called The Atlantic Council.
Quoting the 20th century philosopher Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
From today’s Star: “Mayor Quinton Lucas…announced Tuesday that the Parks and Recreation Board would spend the next 90 days collecting residents’ ideas on how to honor the civil rights leader. Then the board will hold public meetings to evaluate the ideas.”
Of course, this matter was addressed a year-and-a-half ago by the parks board. They declined to rename The Paseo, but recommended that “the City Council establish a commission to explore ways Kansas City could best honor King and his legacy” (from a March 30, 2018 Star article).
So, after many twists and turns, we’re now back at the parks board. We’ll see what happens, but don’t expect a street renaming to come out of this. Lucas has already stated in a previous Star article that “one of the lessons he takes away is that no amount of community engagement is going to achieve consensus around renaming a civic asset like a major street.”
“…show hosted by Al Sharpton…” — say no more. Birds of a feather …
By the way, Fitz, magnificent headline: “draped and embroidered.” What late- night epiphany led you there?!
If the Save the Paseo group interrupted a rally inside a church, that was definitely wrong. But, unlike the KKK, I don’t think they would have been setting any fires.
Maite Salazar for Congress