by Daniel Johnson
August 31, 2025
Mary Dean, a civil rights activist and a resident of Wichita, Kansas, is suing town over their resolution to disband its Range, Inclusion, and Civil Rights Board.
Mary Dean, a civil rights activist and a resident of Wichita, Kansas is suing town over their resolution to disband its Range, Inclusion, and Civil Rights Board in addition to what the lawsuit describes as a public humiliation stemming from her unceremonious removing from a metropolis council assembly the place she advocated for a reparations ordinance.
Based on The Wichita Eagle, Dean has pushed town to undertake an ordinance on reparations for years, however her efforts had been thwarted when the board was suspended earlier this yr amid considerations of any ordinance it could implement with respect to race and gender.
Based on the federal lawsuit, “Ms. Dean was publicly humiliated in entrance of Metropolis officers and members of the general public, silenced from exercising her constitutional proper to petition her authorities. Because of this, Ms. Dean has suffered emotional misery, reputational hurt, and lack of two years of her life’s work advocating for racial equality in Wichita.”
Moreover, Dean’s lawsuit names Wichita mayor Lily Wu, Metropolis Supervisor Robert Layton, Metropolis Lawyer Jennifer Magana, and different metropolis council members who voted to droop the board.
Dean can also be alleging in her lawsuit that town violated her civil rights in addition to the Fourteenth Modification because of the metropolis council’s resolution to not contemplate the ordinance she has championed.
“By ordering her removing from chambers, Defendants disadvantaged her of liberty with out due means of legislation and silenced her proper to petition the federal government,” the go well with states.
In an interview with the outlet, Dean, who’s suing town and the named defendants for $1,842,482,472, a determine she declined to supply specifics on, implored Black individuals in Wichita to face up and take motion.
“I simply want and pray that Black individuals in Wichita would get up for themselves and grow to be extra empowered and engaged within the points which have impacted them for many years on this metropolis,” Dean stated.
Based on KWCH, in July, after town’s vote to droop the board, Layton stated the transfer was spurred by the federal authorities’s crackdown on variety, fairness and inclusion initiatives which might value town roughly $100 million if the federal authorities decides to tug funding.
“There may be the chance {that a} portion of that ($100 million) might be suspended or put upfront, after which that will pressure us to reply to any complaints or claims filed by the federal authorities,” Layton stated in a metropolis council assembly that month.
As well as, in keeping with board chair Tabitha Lehman, all the work of the board on the time was below evaluation from town’s authorized division.
“I might say that that was a part of our dialogue as a board, acknowledging that that’s the place the Metropolis is in. That was why issues wanted to be below authorized evaluation, due to these grant funds being on the road.”
As KAKE additionally reported in July, the choice by town council displays comparable decisions being thought-about throughout the nationhowever because the 4-3 council vote underscored, not everybody was on board with the choice to scrap the Range, Inclusion, and Civil Rights Board.
Councilmember Brandon Johnson opened his assertion to the outlet with a textbook definition of fascism, criticism of the federal authorities and concern for constitutional violations.
“With out elaborating, whether or not you agree with my inference or not, you undoubtedly know precisely what and whom I’m referring to. That alone speaks volumes. The chief department of america authorities continues to push the boundaries of settled legislation and the Structure, infringing upon our God given rights just because the present occupant disagrees,” Johnson stated.
He continued, contextualizing what’s at stake for the residents of town if that $100 million in funding is misplaced.
“We’ve obtained $100 million in danger. If Wichita doesn’t have $100 million, we’re going to have quite a lot of holes in what we offer all the best way from transportation to housing to roads.”
As this example and others prefer it continues to clarify, the Trump administration’s conflict on variety, fairness, and inclusion applications have painted rural and smaller cities right into a nookwhich Jill Habig, the founder and CEO of the Public Rights Mission, asserted in her feedback relating to a federal lawsuit joined by at the least 60 native governments which asserts that the grant circumstances issued by the Trump administration represent an illegal abuse of energy.
“Communities shouldn’t need to lose essential providers due to the Trump administration’s political agenda. These federal funding circumstances goal to strip billions of {dollars} from native governments working to assist individuals thrive. Public Rights Mission is proud to symbolize a rising coalition of cities and counties throughout the nation which might be combating again in opposition to this illegal abuse of energy,” Habig stated in a press launch.
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