A Manhattan activist organization is publicly demanding the resignation of the Riley County commission chairman over allegations of racism and misinformation.
The group, Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice (MAPJ), has called Marvin Rodriguez’s comments at a special meeting of the Riley County commission on Wednesday, March 18 “derogatory,” “misinformed” and “racist” and are petitioning he step down via their social media presence.
“A community leader in charge of ensuring the safety of local residents should not respond in such a misinformed and dangerously xenophobic fashion,” the MAPJ board wrote in an official statement to KMAN.
MAPJ is a private association of community organizers around issues including racial equity and renter’s rights. They reorganized as such in 1993 as a continuation of the circa 1983 Manhattan Alliance for Central America.
The Board of Riley County Commissioners unanimously voted to close county buildings to the public and issue a local emergency declaration at that Wednesday meeting. At the time, the Riley County Health Department had not officially confirmed any positive cases of novel coronavirus infection in the area.
At the meeting, Rodriguez was quoted in the Manhattan Mercury comparing the spread of the disease in the United States versus Italy, saying the relatively lower population of Chinese people is part of why the situation was more dire in Italy at the time.
“[S]omeone reminded me that in Italy, they have a lot of garment-people there, fashionists, and they have a tremendous amount of Chinese there, and that’s where a lot of it started. So we don’t necessarily have any (Chinese people), but I think the board would like to make sure that we’re on top of it, and the board will decide on that part.”
Rodriguez was later interviewed for a Kansas City Star op-ed where he appeared to deny the characterization. In the article, he was quoted commenting on the size of Northern Italy’s Chinese population, saying “there’s a garment industry and a lot of Chinese. If we were like Italy, we’d have it already.”
In addition to MAPJ, Rodriguez received criticism from Manhattan Mayor Usha Reddi over the comments on her Facebook page.
“Aside from the obvious racism in that comment, let’s be clear, COVID-19 can be spread by anyone regardless of race, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status,” writes Reddi. “And it is in our community.”
Since then, a Kansas State University journalism professor became the first person locally to test positive for COVID-19 according to the Riley County Health Department. Originally reported as a Riley County case, he lives in the Pottawatomie County side of Manhattan. He is currently in intensive care for his condition at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan.
In addition to Rodriguez’s resignation, the MAPJ board has also extended a call for Riley County to begin broadcasting commission meetings to the public and create an online public comment process.
“In a moment where Riley County residents are asked to social distance, transparency and pathways for engagement in the democratic process are needed now more than ever.”
KMAN reached out to Rodriguez, who declined to comment further on the issue.
