race

Lester, an 84-year-old white man, was charged with two felonies for shooting Ralph Yarl, a Black teen, April 13. His trial is set for October 2024.

Lester, an 84-year-old white man who lives in Kansas City’s Northland, was charged with two felonies for shooting Ralph Yarl on the night of April 13, after the Black teen mistakenly arrived at the wrong address.

Missouri is one of 27 states that have yet to pass an act protecting Black people from hair discrimination at work and school, but there are grassroots efforts to relearn how to love and care for afro-texture hair.

For more than 30 years, a Monett Times reporter has held an annual vigil in the southwest Missouri town marking the night that a mob of white residents killed three Black men — Will Godley, Pete Hampton and French Godley — and forced the rest of the town's Black residents to flee for their lives.

A June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, overturning decades of precedent, decreed that colleges can’t consider race when deciding if to admit a student. Missouri university system leaders told state lawmakers that the decision has "no impact" on them because race was not a factor in admissions already.

The decision reverses decades of precedent upheld over the years by narrow court majorities that included Republican-appointed justices.

Leah Rothestein, co-author of "Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law," examines ways in which local governments can take steps to remedy socioeconomic issues that are the result of racist policies.

The bill, Reparations NOW, calls for $14 trillion to Black Americans as compensation for slavery and Jim Crow.

Negro Creek runs for 6.5 miles south of 151st Street, through parts of Overland Park and Leawood, but few people knew its name until the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. An informal committee that included members of the NAACP and other community groups began exploring the creek's origin but couldn't agree on an alternative name for the creek.

The trauma of Ralph Yarl — who was shot twice by a Northland homeowner after he mistakenly rang the doorbell to the wrong house — is just the latest reminder to the Liberian families living in the Kansas City region that American racism remains a threat.

A local defense attorney said it's possible Lester's defense team will say Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old who shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl on his doorstep, had a right to use deadly force to protect his property. That's because of the 'castle doctrine.'

As the 16-year-old recovers at home and the alleged shooter, Andrew D. Lester, awaits trial after pleading not guilty to two felony charges, a diverse group of residents showed up this week to protests. The case has reignited anger about race, guns and policing.