KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A confrontation between Black residents and Kalamazoo Public Safety officers at a “Sunday Funday” event at Spring Valley Park two weekends ago dominated the discussion at last night’s Kalamazoo city commission meeting.
Party organizers, community leaders and public safety officials have already held a meeting and agreed on ways to avoid a repeat.
Officers responded to complaints about loud music and when a small group refused to cooperate, officers cleared the park, using the nuisance party ordinance as their justification.
Most of the partiers were children, seniors and adults attending an annual event and complying with park rules, who felt public safety overreacted.
Among them was Gwendolyn Hooker, who runs a local housing agency, and said they were having a nice day until the officers showed up.
Videos of the confrontation went viral, stirring up anger in the community and charges of racism at last night’s meeting.
But Wendy Fields with the NAACP says the video showed that both sides may be accountable for what happened, and what children heard and saw in the park.
City commissioners were asked to fire officers and reevaluate the nuisance party ordinance.
Vice Mayor Drew Duncan called the public safety response “revolting.”
Duncan says any record of license plate numbers taken that Sunday should be purged.
Commissioner Alonzo Wilson called for more dialog and understanding.
The nuisance party ordinance, developed to combat the X-Train, has been effective, and become a model for other communities. The Portage City Council is set to approve their version of the ordinance this evening.
No citations were issued at the incident and no one arrested, but it did bring the annual event to a premature conclusion and made a lot of people angry.
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