Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway recently filed a lawsuit against Kansas City over the city’s programs that help women and people-of-color-owned businesses, citing discrimination against men and white people. This sparked a fierce backlash online, as many Missouri residents saw the action as unjustified.
As reported by St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the lawsuit alleges that Kansas City’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise program violates the 14th Amendment, as the city considers sex and race when awarding contracts to businesses. Therefore, the lawsuit filed by the Republican AG seeks to shut down these programs.
When talking about the issue, Hanaway claimed that the “unlawful quotas violate the core promise of equal protection under the law.” Detractors such as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, however, disagreed, saying that the AG was involved in a “culture war issue” while ignoring the real problems.
Missouri Reacts to Attorney General’s Lawsuit
The lawsuit sparked criticism on Reddit’s r/Missouri, with many users skeptical of Hanaway, some who called the lawsuit “DEI in reverse.” According to one user: “I didn’t think we could do worse than Schmitt or Bailey. Yeah, that was wrong. Our last 4 Attorneys General have been a complete waste.”
Someone else added: “Based solely on this, I have to assume that she is going to be running for a Senate seat soon. Our last few AGs have focused solely on that, and since it has worked.”
Another person slammed the lawsuit: “What an excellent use of my tax dollars. Instead of funding…literally anything else. I gotta make sure we stamp out all that discrimination against… checks notes …white men.”
Another shared their feelings on the lawsuit: “I am honestly so sick of this ‘white supremacy’ [expletive]; it’s making my head hurt. These old conservative dinosaurs with their white culture garbage are getting seriously old. They sound like a bunch of children throwing a tantrum because they no longer feel like they are on top of the world, when they never were to begin with.”
It remains to be seen how the lawsuit will fare, but there are indications that the controversy surrounding it could continue to grow as more Missouri residents react to Hanaway’s decision.
