Race and Culture

Days after the Jackson County Prosecutor announced she will not bring charges against a Kansas City police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Black man in March 2020, protestors took to the streets.

In 1866 Cathay Williams, a newly freed Black woman from Independence, Missouri, made a historic decision. She switched her name to William Cathay, disguising herself as a man so she could become a legendary Buffalo Soldier.

Despite the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the Latino community, there has been a lack of information and educational resources. Community-led initiatives and nonprofits are working to overcome the myriad challenges.

A pesar del desproporcionado impacto de la pandemia sobre la comunidad latina, hubo una falta de información y de recursos educativos. Las organizaciones sin fines de lucro y las iniciativas lideradas por la comunidad están actuando para sobreponerse a un sinnúmero de desafíos.

Black and Latino residents are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. But Missouri’s plan punted creating a proposal “to assure equity is achieved” to regional teams, half of which haven’t started work.

The Kansas City Chiefs are headed back to the biggest stage in football and, once again, protesters are calling out the team’s troublesome traditions that borrow from Native American culture.

Stories of the most famous African Americans from Kansas City are well told, but the work of many more community members often goes unrecognized.

Kamala Harris is set to become the country’s first female vice president. Harris is a Black woman of Indian and Jamaican descent, and the occasion is inspiring people of color across Kansas City.

The Star's self-examination of its early history draws mixed reactions.

Kansas City's daily newspaper is admitting to the damage it has done to the city's Black residents, and a survey of voters reveals the news that caught their attention in 2020.

Protest groups and social activists in Kansas City are facing a suite of challenges as public attention shifts away from issues of police and criminal justice reform, which mobilized so many during 2020.

Police brutality and protests garnered the attention and sympathy of white Kansas Citians, but 2020 has not brought the systemic change activists say are needed to improve race relations in the metro.