Black Kansas City Mayor Called N-Word, Gets Death Threats Over COVID-19 Mask Policy

The Black mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Quinton Lucas shared a screenshot of texts containing a racial slur and a “subtle death threat” following new citywide guidance that requires face masks to be worn.

Lucas took to Twitter on Monday to share the text messages, which also told him to “swing from a tree” and called him the N-word.

In other messages, the texter called Lucas an “idiot” and said that he “walked with rioters not wearing a mask,” likely referencing the mayor taking part in George Floyd demonstrations.

In another tweet, the mayor posted an original photo of him holding a t-shirt for a local radio station and next to it, the photoshopped version, writing, “Social media and photo shop are always fascinating. To the many texting me aghast of fake photos circulating, I recommend you not believe everything a muckraker sends your way... and use some judgment.”

In a second tweet, he wrote, “Odd to have to disprove something so patently ridiculous and nonsensical (who takes a smiling F the police photo at a rock station?), but alas, that’s 2020.”

On Friday, the mayor announced that masks will now be a prerequisite in Kansas City when social distancing is impossible, NBC News reports. The guidance was implemented on Monday after the city experienced its highest daily record of new COVID-19 cases.

The Kansas City Police Department told the outlet that they weren’t investigating the matter. “If a police a report was made, then we would be investigating. I am not aware of one at this time,” a spokesperson for the police said.