Here's an important tradition that marks the tragic upward trending rate of killing across the Greater Kansas City metro . . .
The Longest Night
Tonight is the sixth annual longest night service for the families of those murdered in our city this past year. The host church this year is the Leawood Baptist Church, 8200 Stateline Road Leawood, Kansas. The event begins at 7 PM what is open to the public.
This year they are 189 crosses on the lawn of the Leawood Baptist Church on the Kansas side of Stateline Road. Each cross represents a victim of murder in Jackson and Wyandotte county in 2016 including two Kansas City Kansas police officers. The event has three major purposes. First, this is an opportunity for the families of these victims to know they are not forgotten. At a time when many people are celebrating the Christmas holiday with friends and family there are hundreds of our fellow citizens who are facing their first Christmas without their loved one. This event is an opportunity for them to come together with other families and people in Kansas City who care for them. One of the ways we battle evil in our city is to not abandon those who been devastated by evil.
Secondly we come together to commit ourselves to do all that we can do engage in our community to make it a better and safer place. That means we commit ourselves to volunteer our time and to give of our resources to those causes and those people who are in need. People of goodwill cannot simply standby and see our city spiral into chaos. There are no simple solutions. This is a very complex and difficult problem. But running from the problem is no solution. We use this event to commit ourselves to engaging the problem not avoiding it.
And finally this event is to display to our city and county leadership that we will never except as normal a murder rate such as we have in our metro region. This must change. Again we realize it's a complex and difficult situation. But it must be addressed. Honestly and with complete transparency it must be addressed. Not with political slogans and spin. 189 crosses on the Churchlawn in Leawood Kansas is a stark reminder of the violence that permeates our metro.
Tonight we gather to care for those who are hurting, to commit ourselves to do more in our city to bring about positive change (such as volunteering to mentor young people) and to hold city leaders and officials accountable for the safety of our city even as we commit ourselves to supporting those city and county leaders and praying for them and encouraging them in their most difficult work.
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