KANSAS CITY, Mo. — To mark one year since a police officer killed George Floyd and ignited a nationwide movement for police reform, the owner of a cafe in Kansas City, Missouri, will host a celebration of life and protest for more change.
Dontavious Young owns Equal Minded Cafe. He calls his coffee shop and restaurant a safe place where customers are encouraged to dialogue with others in order to find unity on topics that might normally separate people like race, religion, gender, etc.
That encouragement will continue Tuesday with a day-long networking opportunity and a pop-up marketplace for Black-owned vendors. By about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Young will form a more organized event where speakers share their stories from the past year, express themselves through performance, and push for change. At about 6:30 p.m. the group will march to The Plaza to join other groups hosting similar events.
Young said he hopes his event pushes for more change in police reform by keeping momentum from Floyd's death in Minneapolis last year moving forward.
“Over the past year since his death, a lot of people have sort of relaxed or acted like it’s not happening anymore, or it’s not as bad, change finally got here. But change is not here yet,” Young said.”
The business owner and psychology student said he believes the best way to achieve change is through shared experiences. So he’s encouraging Black and white people, police officers and community members to experience each other’s lives.
“Positive experiences in our community is what is going to build our community, make people think our community is better, make them think things are possible,” Young said. “Getting those police officers in front of us and getting our faces in front of them I think is the most important.”
Equal Minded Cafe is located at 4327 Troost Ave., Kansas City, Missouri.
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