Crushing public uproar over an alleged racist name – for a black-owned business, oddly enough – cancelled a pending lounge in Kansas City just days after it was announced.

Sundown HiFi was presented as a new installment of Current Landing’s Missouri Riverfront development. It was designed to be a listening bar and lounge bringing a “new, sensory-driven nightlife concept” for people to enjoy an “immersive audio experience designed around the moments when the day fades and the night begins,” a Kansas City Current  press release says.

Google says the definition of sundown is “the time in the evening when sun disappears or daylight fades.” However, scrutiny of the lounge’s name has revealed a supposed deeper and darker meaning.

Sundown towns were segregated communities that existed from 1890-1968 in which black people were encouraged to stay inside after dark, or they could face violent persecution.

But Sundown HiFi’s black owner bristles at the connection to his proposed establishment.

“Sundown was a name with a lot of purpose, meaning and thought behind it,” Sundown HiFi owner Casio McCombs said in an Instagram post.

“I want to acknowledge, respectfully, as an African American man raised in the South, that I am more than aware of the painful history connected to the phrase ‘sundown’ in certain contexts, particularly the phrase ‘sundown town.’ …

“I believe it is deeply unfortunate to allow that history to permanently taint language that describes one of the most universal human experiences imaginable.”

In the KC Current press release announcing the new bar, Managing Director at Palmer Square Real Estate Josh Goldman said Sundown “brings a new layer of cultural energy to the riverfront. One that blends music, design and community in a way that feels both elevated and accessible. We’re excited to welcome a concept that will resonate with Kansas City and continue to shape the future of Current Landing.”

Instead of being met with excitement and anticipation, the announcement caused an outcry of protest from the public because of the dubious association with the long-extinct sundown town phenomenon.

Kansas City Blue Crew, the official supporting group of the KC Current soccer team, called the lounge’s name racist, insensitive, disturbing and a mistake in a Facebook post.

“We love our team, our city, and our neighbors too much to remain silent on this,” they wrote, in a statement that seems to imply McCombs doesn’t also love the community.

He isn’t remaining silent, anyway.

“Ultimately, Sundown is about transition, release, and presence,” McCombs continued in his own post. “It is about what happens when the lights dim, the music takes over, and people come together at the end of day.”

People on social media including KC Blue Crew called for the lounge to be renamed. However, the ideas for a new name also fell short: Some name suggestions included Sunset HiFi, Day Break HiFi, or Golden Hour HiFi, but Google searches reveal all three of these could also be tied to hidden meanings related to oppression and slavery.

“He shouldn’t have to change the name of a natural process the earth and the sun do daily,” one person argued in a comment on McCombs’ post.

McCombs revealed on Instagram last week, less than four days after Sundown was announced, that the business is longer on the agenda for Current Landing.

“In less than 72 hours, a concept I spent years developing was reduced, misinterpreted, and ultimately stripped away – largely by voices outside the community it was meant to represent,” he wrote.

“This project was not just about opening a bar. It was about representation. It was about creating space. And it was about reclamation. The name Sundown was chosen intentionally. Not to ignore history, but to confront it. …

“But it’s clear that the concept of reclamation is not widely understood, or accepted, by many of the same people who claim to value equity and inclusion.”

McCombs told KSHB 41 he still wants to open Sundown HiFi but right now might not be the right time.

He wrote in his Instagram post, “I’m proud of what Sundown HiFi was meant to be. And I’m grateful to the Current Landing team for seeing the vision and championing.”

(Photo by Britt Fowler, Unsplash)