Midwesternish

201 White Crosses: A Year In Homicides

By Gina Kaufmann,

Published February 20, 2017 at 10:34 AM CST

For the fifth year in a row, the Leawood Baptist Church put up white crosses in their front lawn on State Line Road. The display goes up at the end of each year, and each cross represents a life lost to homicide.

In 2016, the homicide rate in Kansas City, Missouri, was the highest it had been in a decade. Twelve of the people killed that year were under the age of 16. Meet some of the people whose lives have become intertwined with this ongoing violence.

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Music: Emmit Sprak, Scalloped, Cobweb Transit, and A Calendar Spread by Blue Dot Sessions; all have been edit.

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Gina Kaufmann

People don't make cameos in news stories; the human story is the story, with characters affected by news events, not defined by them. As a columnist and podcaster, I want to acknowledge what it feels like to live through this time in Kansas City, one vantage point at a time. Together, these weekly vignettes form a collage of daily life in Kansas City as it changes in some ways, and stubbornly resists change in others. You can follow me on Twitter @GinaKCUR or email me at gina@kcur.org.

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Matt Hodapp

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Andrea Tudhope

Andrea Tudhope is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She is currently coordinating producer for America Amplified, a national public media community engagement initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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