Greenline Grows KC is a Night to Celebrate Black Voices

This Friday, August 28th, will be a night of celebration, music, and storytelling in the Kansas City community during Greenline Grows KC. In an evening centered around Black stories, art, and voices, performances from local musicians will be paired with appearances from community members and leaders, including the KC Tenants and Mayor Quinton Lucas.

The event, streaming on Facebook and YouTube, is a benefit for The Greenline Initiative, a Black and family-owned organization in Kansas City. With the support of community funding and mutual aid, The Greenline Initiative helps renters across the city purchase and renovate the homes that they live in. Historically, housing in Kansas City has been deeply segregated by racist practices that were developed to intentionally disenfranchise Black families in the early- to mid-twentieth century. By helping families and individuals renovate and buy their own homes, The Greenline Initiative is working to establish a more permanent community base within our neighborhoods and to help families in building the generational wealth that they’ve long been denied by deeply-rooted, racist and systemic practices.

“I’m supporting The Greenline Initiative because I support their mission and cause,” said Cuee, one of the artists performing at Greenline Grows KC. “I am all for building Black generational wealth. Their commitment to build permanent communities in redlined neighbors is the beauty and power of reclaiming space and growing in it. I’m here for it and excited to be apart of KC Black history.”

Like many cities throughout the United States, Kansas City has been facing a reckoning over the past few months. Public protests have pushed community leaders to acknowledge the city’s history of policy brutality and the continued violence perpetuated against people of color, in particular Black men. Likewise, the city is tasked with understanding and dismantling the systems that have created inequitable housing, educational, and occupational opportunities for members of our community along racial dividing lines.

“I will never understand how someone looked at the color of my skin and decided that everyone with it wasn’t human enough to deserve the same basic needs that every species on this planet is worthy of,” said Stephonne, an artist participating in the Greenline Grows KC benefit. “When I see initiatives like Greenline, I start to smile again and I can hope again, if only for a moment, that someone sees Black people. I can breathe and know that someone wants what we deserve to have which is humanity, compassion, resources and, at the very least, shelter.”

The event features performances and appearances by more than a dozen members of the Kansas City community who have used their platform to discuss issues of social injustice, including Cuee, Stephonne, Radkey, Khrystal., The Greeting Committee, Krystle Warren, and They Call Me Sauce.

“I feel very privileged to be called on to help out with my music,” said Stephonne. “Music is our universal language. It transcends the basic ability to understand and takes us all back to the spark that created us all. That spark is life. In that transport we are able to find each other and hopefully we also find the love we so desperately need to make the wrongs of this country right.”

Una Walkenhorst was the primary organizer for this event. As a musician and activist in Kansas City, Una has consistently used her platform to benefit and advance the lives and well-being of others throughout her community.

Find more information about Greenline Grows KC on the event’s Facebook page.