IREHR concert to celebrate 40 years vs. bigotry

Danny Cox, shown here, will perform Dec. 2, as well as Connie Dover, Bob Walkenhorst, and Rosy’s Bar and Grill.—Photos courtesy of IREHR

For 40 years, the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR) has been mobilizing opposition to organized white supremacist groups and partnering to strengthen human rights and dignity for all people. On Saturday, Dec. 2, an IREHR anniversary celebration and benefit concert will be held, featuring Kansas City’s folk legends Danny Cox, Connie Dover, Bob Walkenhorst, and Rosy’s Bar and Grill. At All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church (4501 Walnut St., KC MO), the evening will begin with a reception and silent auction at 6 pm, followed by the concert at 7pm.

IREHR for decades has documented both nationally and locally the activities and actions of white supremacist groups and their leaders, and then has helped communities respond. With racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, and bigoted incidents of all types escalating in communities across our country, IREHR’s work remains compelling.

IREHR holds that the future must be built on the foundation of a strong, multiracial democracy, free from discrimination and bigotry, and radiating compassion and respect for the humanity of all peoples.

Leonard Zeskind

“We ignore the white nationalist movement at our own peril,” says IREHR founder Leonard Zeskind. “To defend the present from the wrongs of the past, we must prepare, not only by understanding this threat, but by working together to defeat it.”

Tickets are $25 in advance/$35 at the door. For a ticket donation of $50, you’ll receive a signed, hard-back copy of a book by IREHR founder Leonard Zeskind, Blood & Politics: History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream. For more information, contact Carol Smith, 816-585-6147. Reserve your ticket at:  www.irehr.org/tickets

Click here to share this event on Facebook.

Click here to share this event on Twitter.

© 2023, Leonard Zeskind, Carol Smith, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License

Related Stories

US Rep. Emanuel Cleaver will moderate an online panel of other US representatives 1/18: Rashida Talib of Michigan, Hank Johnson of Georgia, and Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania. Members of the PeaceWorks-KC community are encouraged to participate.
A Dec. 31 program on KKFI, 90.1 FM, celebrated the political activism of PeaceWorks-KC and the Poor People's Campaign (PPC), giving reasons for hope. Among the six persons interviewed, Tammy Brown, of the Missouri PPC, says in the podcast, "I was hungry. I was homeless. Somebody told me, 'Cherith Brook feeds.'" She went there for help, began volunteering, and now belongs to the PPC.
It’s time to end the Afghanistan War, bringing all the troops, not some, home now. But not just Afghanistan. ALL US troops across the Middle East, and throughout Africa, where the US has more military bases than in the Middle East, must come home now.
The house’s mission: We grow a healthy home by sharing labor and power, knowing our histories, partnering with Creation, and practicing hospitality, response-ability, and place-based peacemaking. Priority will go to local women activists working for systemic social justice in Wyandotte County and providing reparations to women of color in the form of rest and rent relief.
Ron Faust waits for a new administration, condemns the federal executions, and observes: Warming the transition are colored lights / Hung on trees inside homes shining through / The doubts and fears of a shivering nation / While outside squirrels chase hope around.
What we are taught about the founding of our country does not reflect experiences of indigenous people, and our lofty values of freedom and democracy fail to recognize the disenfranchisement of African Americans, women, and poor people in general.
Ron Faust asks: what do you do about those    Who differ in values    Who defend the second amendment    Who disparage the immigrants    Who look down on the poor    Who deny systemic racism What do you say?    Can we compromise? Can we get along? Do we just remain silent?
Meeting human needs is absolutely fundamental to finding peace within, and that is the foundation for peace in the world. So says Paul Chappell, who will facilitate the online workshop PeaceWorks-KC is cosponsoring Feb. 7, 14, 21.
Political analysts charge that Amendment 3 is designed by incumbent legislators to give political parties the power to manipulate elections through gerrymandering.
Man hanging origame peace cranes.