Alvin Brooks’ mark on civil rights history in Kansas City – on the city’s history in total – is indelible. Born into poverty and a racist society, he became a trailblazing police officer and detective, city councilman, and mayor pro tem. Amid decades of advocacy for equal rights, violence prevention, and criminal justice, he founded the AdHoc Group Against Crime and chaired the local chapter of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).  

In recognition of his lifetime of activism, community building, and public service, President George H. W. Bush named him as one of America’s 1,000 Points of Light. 

Brooks, now 88, joins Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas in an online discussion of his remarkable career and life, marking the launch of his new autobiography Binding Us Together: A Civil Rights Activist Reflects on a Lifetime of Community and Public Service. The event also commemorates Black History Month in February. 

Lucas likewise rose from impoverished beginnings, earning academic scholarships to high school, college, and law school at Cornell University before returning home to Kansas City and serving four years on the city council. He was elected mayor in 2019.