Local Kansas City, Missouri activists from multiple organizations presented a petition on January 13 to remove Senator Josh Hawley. Hawley headed the effort to object to the Electoral College certification, an action that helped fuel the acts of insurrection and domestic terrorism that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Ashley Johnson of Reale Justice Network said delivering the petition was a statement on Missouri’s commitment to resisting racism. “We will not accept the racism that was shown, that was displayed. Missouri won’t stand for that,” she said. “We will not stand for treason. We will not stand for any of that.”

The groups including Veterans For Peace and Our Revolution Kansas City joined Reale Justice Network across the street from the Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse in downtown Kansas City to hand deliver the signatures to staff working for Hawley. A protest also took place with speakers voicing their demand that Hawley resign. In a statement released by Veterans for Peace they addressed not only the violence but also “a deeply entrenched and longstanding system of white supremacy.”

For Veterans for Peace, Wednesday’s protest is connected to a broader commitment to fighting white supremacy in the U.S. military.

“As veterans ourselves, we have seen how white supremacy and violence are perpetuated in the U.S. military,” they said in their statement. “The U.S. military continues to be an active recruitment tool for violent extremism and hate groups. This culture of toxicity, often fully embraced and/or condoned by military leadership continues to be a pipeline to violent right wingers, border patrol and police. We know that this pathway to violence must stop...Let's help create a community that is an alternative to bigoted violence and pursue an egalatarian solution to our common root problems.”

Drew Bergerson of Our Revolution Kansas City spoke on how Hawley’s actions supported both fascism and white supremacy.

“I am in mourning, because I'm a Jewish man, and these so called patriots wore Neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic symbols, including a shirt saying “Camp Auschwitz,” days after a Jewish man and a Black man were elected senators in the state of Georgia,” he said. “I am in mourning because my partner is a Black woman, and these white supremacists proudly flew emblems of the KKK while hoisting a noose on a gallows to hinder the legal election of the first woman of color.”

“It's time for armchair progressives and modern liberals to stop promising change in the future and get to work making the structural changes we need to protect our environment, our economy, our bodies and our society,” he added.

At the time of publication, Hawley has not made a statement about resigning despite losing the support of some of his major donors including Hallmark Cards and Commerce Bank. Hawley has also had other business partners such as the former publisher of his now canceled book distance themselves following the failed coup attempt on the Capitol.