Body Snatchers soon to come to Union Station. Does Kansas City have a conscience?

For a long time on this blog, I've joked, engaged in sarcasm and brought light to the fact that the lives of people of color just aren't valued in Kansas City.

In many instances I've pointed out that Eastside homicides are treated casually while violence involving white people garners greater attention and subsequently points out the agenda setting function of media which often reinforces and reflects the bigotry and prejudices of their audience.

Time after time with crude jokes I've pointed out that the media frenzy over the fate of affluent, attractive missing white females is simply a manifestation of the missing white woman syndrome that affects media throughout the nation. Invariably, some d-bag will bring up Precious Doe while failing to realize the disparity of the half dozen names of missing or dead affluent white women who have dominated the headlines since Alonzo Washington led the effort to solve the case of Erica Green.

Well, it turns out that the joke is on me considering that UNION STATION IS SET TO REVEAL A DISGUSTING EXHIBIT THAT PROVES ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT KANSAS CITY DOESN'T VALUE THE LIVES OR DIGNITY OF PEOPLE OF COLOR!!!

The "Bodies Revealed" exhibit has a controversial history that was recently glossed over by Kansas City's paper of record but the facts regarding the exhibit CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE that it is a DISGUSTING DISPLAY WHICH PRIMARILY EXPLOITS THE CORPSES OF ASIAN PEOPLE WHO MIGHT NOT HAVE HAD A SAY IN HOW THEIR BODIES WOULD BE DISPLAYED AFTER THEIR DEMISE.

Of course the medical director of the display claims that the remains of the folks in the exhibit all died from natural causes and gave their consent but it is then revealed to us that the bodies come from China which isn't exactly known for its honesty with American officals or its ethics when it comes to the health of their people . . . Put simply, it's not a free country . . . China is a authoritarian Communist regime and anyone willing to take their word on how these bodies were shipped out of their country is being willfully ignorant.

There are plenty of objections against this kind of sickening display that is essentially racist and ethnocentric. . . Here are a few:

The officals for this exhibit, in my opinion, aren't being forthright about the circumstances that surround these bodies being acquired. The New York Times notes that that there is "little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs" when it comes to how the cadavers are obtained in China.

The trade of these bodies has been marred by controversy and criminal charges against several doctors who deal with supplying corpses for these shows according to a recent story featured on NPR.

The display is not certified by The Missouri State Anatomical Board . . .IF the purpose of this exhibit is educational then some state certification should be required. These displays often skirt around these kind of important medical and educational rules and are in fact governed under rules concerning "ART DISPLAYS" and not subject to CDC stamps and death certificates that are required for medical cadavers. It should be noted that this is not an educational, non-profit display . . . THESE PEOPLE ARE MAKING MONEY BY DISPLAYING DEAD BODIES AS ART EXHIBITS!!!

Think about all of the weird, strange and nasty diseases lurking around every dark corner of the world . . . Then consider that in San Francisco the corpses on display started leaking. Again, with no regulation from the CDC, you can't exactly guarantee this thing is safe.

This town is in a quest to be more like Seattle, well it turns out that town is moving to legislate against these kind of displays and wants to require written authorization to display human remains for a commercial purpose.

Strictly on a human rights front, the objections to this kind of exploitation has been far too numerous to just casually gloss over . . . Blogger and writer Robin Kirk has a great collection of stories on a blog regarding how others united in order to work against this very kind of display.

Finally, let's not forget that the Chinese Government has lied about their medical practices for years. China was harvesting organs from live Falun Gong prisoners to meet rising demand not so long ago. A recent case at the Carnegie Science Center highlighted this controversy and most people have come to the logical conclusion that the Chinese government's integrity is questionable.

And sitting back and looking at this thing, what's clear to me is that this exhibit is not an educational display; IT'S A MACABRE CARNIVAL ACT. Hell, it's classified as a damn art exhibit.

In my opinion, there are two reasons that folks from Kansas City aren't up in arms . . . Yet. It's a question of racism and ethnocentrism really . . . If these were largely American or white bodies on display there would be an uproar . . . What if the bodies belong one of those missing white women that the media obsesses over? Sadly, people don't identify with imprisoned dissidents, sick people or the very poor from rural China who are going to be displayed for Kansas City's amusement.

Secondly, bringing this exhibit here is a cynical move on the part of the promoters of this event . . . They mistakenly believe that folks in KC aren't capable of doing a Google search, checking Wikipedia or realizing that there are serious human rights controversies involving this creepshow. The Star and any local media who don't give credence to objections to this exhibit are seemingly complicit in what amounts to a cover-up that is attempting to keep Kansas City ignorant as to the drastic opposition to this type of exploitation that comes from around the country and around the world.

First and foremost this blog has always been about parody and satire but I REALLY feel that if this disgusting, immoral and inherently racist and ethnocentric display comes to Kansas City then it is essentially the death nell for any kind of progress on the subject of racial harmony, real diversity or acknowledgment of basic human rights in this town.

Why?

Because if folks don't care about the exploitation of dead bodies and Asian people who might want to bury their lost relatives which is soon to take place in one of the centerpieces of Kansas City, then they obviously those same people will never care about the fate of anyone else but themselves.

Put simply:

The exhibit of these bodies isn't education, it's exploitation.

Clearly if these bodies were white, American or belonged to someone you loved who might not have given their consent then your reaction might be different.

This carnival act doesn't speak to the values of KC and I can only hope that a few people who have a conscience will move to prevent this exhibit from coming to Kansas City in what has to be the most disgraceful attempt to turn a profit for a floundering local attraction ever undertaken.

I'm hoping that folks will contact the Mayor, their council person and Union Station with their objections.

I hope that Kansas City thinks better of exhibiting the death and exploitation of other HUMAN BEINGS simply for profit.