May Day rallies hit Kansas City: protestors hold communist signs, target ICE, income tax phase-out plan

Hundreds of Kansas City residents, including some teenagers encouraged to skip school, joined socialist-inspired May Day protests Friday.

Protesters voiced opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, President Donald Trump and a proposal to phase out Missouri’s income tax.

“No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here,” chanted dozens of Plaza Academy students as they skipped class to participate in International Workers’ Day – or “May Day Strong” – protests across the city.

Swoo Harter, a sophomore, told KCUR she was protesting the uptick in data centers and ICE activity in Kansas City. She claimed ICE agents detain and kill people, which concerns her.

“The future will be built on us and how we present ourselves in protest,” she said.

Kansas City has previously seen school walkouts and student demonstrations, including protests involving confusion about ICE’s role.

Protesters visited local businesses seeking signatures on “ICE Out” petitions, which call for barring ICE agents from entering those businesses.

A story about one small business, Bloom Baking Co., circulated on social media after protesters appeared to persuade the owner to sign the pledge.

“KC WORKERS MARCH ON THE BOSS AND WIN,” the Missouri Workers Center wrote in a post on X.

“When they asked by themselves, they got ignored. So this time, they came back flanked by community supporters – and got the boss to sign on.”

However, one commenter alleged the moment was staged, writing: “Bro the owner is in on this. This was agreed to beforehand. Staged for May Day. I know friends of the owner and they have receipts.”

Protesters also voiced opposition to other issues, including a proposed new Royals stadium, data centers and the plan to phase out Missouri’s income tax, arguing such policies benefit the wealthy.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe released a series of videos on social media debunking common misconceptions about the income tax phase-out plan, in which he explained eliminating income taxes would save residents $9 billion each year and ensures billionaires are paying their fair share of taxes.

“It rewards hard work,” Kehoe said about the tax plan. “It lets Missourians keep more of the money that they earn.”

Missouri residents will vote on the plan in November and if it passes, the Legislature will develop a sales tax to help the state compete in the modern e-commerce economy, Kehoe explained.

“We’re making sure that we have a tax plan that fits the generations to come, and so all this information you’ve heard that we’re going to have this huge sales-tax rate isn’t accurate.”

The new Royals stadium is expected to be built in Crown Center and even though protestors claimed the project supports billionaires, it’s expected to bring 20,000 jobs to the city during the construction phase alone.

Terrence Wise, a leader with the Missouri Workers Center, told Fox 4 many working-class residents are struggling financially.

“I’m a full-time worker here in Kansas City but still struggle with affordability; and you’ll hear that word a lot – affordability.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Alford addressed the issue at a local press conference last month.

“I think affordability is the catch phrase of the Democrats,” he said. “There’s so much that we need to be doing and we can be doing if we have the right economic policy.”

Several protesters held signs or wore T-shirts displaying the slogan “workers over billionaires.”

Other signs and flags displayed communist symbols and phrases including:

“Communist Party USA, forward together, Missouri/Kansas.”

“Viva la Communism.”

Advocacy for communism at the rallies comes a week after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed a bill that would have required students to learn about the harms of political ideologies such as communism and fascism.

(Photo credit: screenshot/Instagram/@thehannale)