Black Lives Matter

Sir'Antonio Brown, just six years old, was shot and killed Wednesday night in Kansas City, Kansas. Gun violence has surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children, according to a December report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It's been more than a week since 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot in Kansas City. Now that the dust is settling, how are Black residents feeling and what questions are still left unanswered? Plus: Why some cities still ban a plant that helps endangered monarch butterflies.

National civil rights leaders, local activists and community leaders held a press conference and led protestors Tuesday afternoon outside the Federal Courthouse in downtown Kansas City. They showed up to decry last week’s shooting of a Black teenager after he rang the wrong doorbell in a Northland neighborhood.

Sixteen-year-old Ralph Yarl was trying to pick up his twin brothers at a friend's house in Kansas City's Northland when he rang the doorbell at the wrong home. The resident, Andrew D. Lester, is charged with shooting Yarl twice — including once in the head — through a glass door.

Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson announced the charges against Andrew D. Lester late Monday afternoon after days of national outcry.

The Black Youth Coalition Network wants to be a leading voice among Kansas City's youth. Their professional development programs and community activism is catching the eyes of Black leaders.

U.S. Senate candidate Mark McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Cori Bush and state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge for participating in protests that passed the McCloskeys’ home. Aldridge called the lawsuit a publicity stunt.

As a condition of their probation, Mark and Patricia McCloskey are required to provide 100 hours of pro bono legal services to organizations that provide free legal services for poor or indigent Missouri residents.

The family of Donnie Sanders, a Black man killed by a Kansas City police officer in 2020, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners and the officer who shot him.

The McCloskeys drew national headlines when they confronted a group of mostly Black protesters who had entered their gated community en route to demonstrate in front of the nearby home of a former St. Louis mayor in June 2020.

The 2017 protest galvanized a new generation to become engaged in activism and politics.

Lucky Easterwood has been painting murals in Kansas City, Kansas, since 1996. Each of his paintings are intended as a message of optimism for this specific community: "If it was quick to die, it can be quick to rebuild."