Posted on Apr 21, 2023
After Ralph Yarl's shooting, Black Kansas Citians worry they're 'always going to be just Black’
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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.
The week started with shock and grief as the city learned that a Black teenager, Ralph Yarl, a high school junior at Staley High School in Kansas City, had been shot in the head and arm as he rang the doorbell at the wrong house while trying to pick up his little brothers. Andrew D. Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner, later told police he shot the 16-year-old because he was “scared to death.”
As details of the story emerged, shock and grief rapidly turned into outrage. Neighbors, activists, celebrities and public officials demanded an explanation for how a slight, unarmed 16-year-old, described as a good student and caring brother and son, could be seen as a threat, and why police allowed the alleged shooter to go free after less than two hours in custody.
The week started with shock and grief as the city learned that a Black teenager, Ralph Yarl, a high school junior at Staley High School in Kansas City, had been shot in the head and arm as he rang the doorbell at the wrong house while trying to pick up his little brothers. Andrew D. Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner, later told police he shot the 16-year-old because he was “scared to death.”
As details of the story emerged, shock and grief rapidly turned into outrage. Neighbors, activists, celebrities and public officials demanded an explanation for how a slight, unarmed 16-year-old, described as a good student and caring brother and son, could be seen as a threat, and why police allowed the alleged shooter to go free after less than two hours in custody.
After Ralph Yarl's shooting, Black Kansas Citians worry they're 'always going to be just Black’
Posted from kcur.org
Kansas City
Protest
Racism
Firearms and Guns
Police
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The week started with shock and grief as the city learned that a Black teenager, Ralph Yarl, a high school junior at Staley High School in Kansas City, had been shot in the head and arm as he rang the doorbell at the wrong house while trying to pick up his little brothers. Andrew D. Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner, later told police he shot the 16-year-old because he was “scared to death.”
As details of the story emerged, shock and grief rapidly turned into outrage. Neighbors, activists, celebrities and public officials demanded an explanation for how a slight, unarmed 16-year-old, described as a good student and caring brother and son, could be seen as a threat, and why police allowed the alleged shooter to go free after less than two hours in custody.
Justice Gatson, founder and director of the Reale Justice Network, addressed hundreds of people who gathered outside Lester’s house on Northeast 115th Street in Kansas City’s Northland Sunday afternoon, three days after the incident occurred."...
..."The week started with shock and grief as the city learned that a Black teenager, Ralph Yarl, a high school junior at Staley High School in Kansas City, had been shot in the head and arm as he rang the doorbell at the wrong house while trying to pick up his little brothers. Andrew D. Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner, later told police he shot the 16-year-old because he was “scared to death.”
As details of the story emerged, shock and grief rapidly turned into outrage. Neighbors, activists, celebrities and public officials demanded an explanation for how a slight, unarmed 16-year-old, described as a good student and caring brother and son, could be seen as a threat, and why police allowed the alleged shooter to go free after less than two hours in custody.
Justice Gatson, founder and director of the Reale Justice Network, addressed hundreds of people who gathered outside Lester’s house on Northeast 115th Street in Kansas City’s Northland Sunday afternoon, three days after the incident occurred."...
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Smithsonian traveling exhibition "The Negro Motorist Green Book"
Join Jennifer Kilmer and Gwen Whiting of the Washington State Historical Society to learn about the Smithsonian traveling exhibition "The Negro Motorist Gree...
https://youtu.be/-JEw6menUd8
Historical Database of Sundown Towns
A sundown town is not just a place where something racist happened. It is an entire community (or even county) that for decades was “all white” on purpose. “All white” is in quotes because some towns allowed one black family to remain when they drove out the rest. Also, institutionalized persons (in prisons, hospitals, colleges, etc.), live-in servants (in white households), and black or interracial children (in white households) do not violate the taboo.
“On purpose” does not require a formal ordinance. If, for example, a black family tried to move in, encountered considerable hostility, and left, that would qualify the town as “sundown.” Note that some sundown towns kept out Chinese Americans, Jews, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, even Mormons.
Not all towns are thoroughly confirmed. Look over the information provided and come to your own conclusion. Some towns are not and never were sundown towns but are listed for other reasons. And of course, a town may have been sundown once, but now is not. Ferguson, MO, was a sundown town between 1940 and 1960.
By 2014, when racial conflict famously erupted there, it was 67% black, so it was certainly no longer a sundown town. However, like some other “recovering” sundown towns, it still displayed “second generation sundown town problems”, in this case an overwhelmingly white police force that still engaged in “DWB policing.”
SOURCE : https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/state-map/
'Sundown towns': Midwest confronts its complicated racial legacy
SOURCE : https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2017/0327/Sundown-towns-Midwest-confronts-its-complicated-racial-legacy
In “This Is Not Dixie: Racist Violence in Kansas, 1861-1927,” Campney documents numerous lynchings, physical assaults, arson and mob attacks on Black people’s businesses and homes. These Euro-American crime waves, Campney writes, shared “one defining characteristic: the tacit or the overt support of the larger white community.”
SOURCE : https://kansasreflector.com/2021/01/31/how-whiteness-won-the-war-in-kansas/
the Green Book, in full The Negro Motorist Green Book, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, or The Travelers’ Green Book, travel guide published (1936–67) during the segregation era in the United States that identified businesses that would accept African American customers. Compiled by Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), a Black postman who lived in the Harlem section of New York City, the Green Book listed a variety of businesses—from restaurants and hotels to beauty salons and drugstores—that were necessary to make travel comfortable and safe for African Americans in the period before passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964.
SOURCE : https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Green-Book-travel-guide
Historical Database of Sundown Towns
A sundown town is not just a place where something racist happened. It is an entire community (or even county) that for decades was “all white” on purpose. “All white” is in quotes because some towns allowed one black family to remain when they drove out the rest. Also, institutionalized persons (in prisons, hospitals, colleges, etc.), live-in servants (in white households), and black or interracial children (in white households) do not violate the taboo.
“On purpose” does not require a formal ordinance. If, for example, a black family tried to move in, encountered considerable hostility, and left, that would qualify the town as “sundown.” Note that some sundown towns kept out Chinese Americans, Jews, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, even Mormons.
Not all towns are thoroughly confirmed. Look over the information provided and come to your own conclusion. Some towns are not and never were sundown towns but are listed for other reasons. And of course, a town may have been sundown once, but now is not. Ferguson, MO, was a sundown town between 1940 and 1960.
By 2014, when racial conflict famously erupted there, it was 67% black, so it was certainly no longer a sundown town. However, like some other “recovering” sundown towns, it still displayed “second generation sundown town problems”, in this case an overwhelmingly white police force that still engaged in “DWB policing.”
SOURCE : https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/state-map/
'Sundown towns': Midwest confronts its complicated racial legacy
SOURCE : https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2017/0327/Sundown-towns-Midwest-confronts-its-complicated-racial-legacy
In “This Is Not Dixie: Racist Violence in Kansas, 1861-1927,” Campney documents numerous lynchings, physical assaults, arson and mob attacks on Black people’s businesses and homes. These Euro-American crime waves, Campney writes, shared “one defining characteristic: the tacit or the overt support of the larger white community.”
SOURCE : https://kansasreflector.com/2021/01/31/how-whiteness-won-the-war-in-kansas/
the Green Book, in full The Negro Motorist Green Book, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, or The Travelers’ Green Book, travel guide published (1936–67) during the segregation era in the United States that identified businesses that would accept African American customers. Compiled by Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), a Black postman who lived in the Harlem section of New York City, the Green Book listed a variety of businesses—from restaurants and hotels to beauty salons and drugstores—that were necessary to make travel comfortable and safe for African Americans in the period before passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964.
SOURCE : https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Green-Book-travel-guide
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Grandsons paint different pictures of Andrew Lester, man accused of shooting Ralph Yarl
Two grandsons of the man accused of shooting a Kansas City teenager at the front door offered different views of their grandfather.Subscribe to KMBC on YouTu...
https://youtu.be/I3G-MqLMCRg
Grandson of man who shot Ralph Yarl says 'fear' and conspiracies consume him
While family members of Andrew Lester do not believe he was explicitly motivated by race in the shooting of Yarl, a Black teenager, they say he must be held accountable.
SOURCE : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna80651
Grandson of man accused of shooting Ralph Yarl is 'disgusted
We're learning more about the 84-year-old accused of shooting Ralph Yarl. Officers say Andrew Lester shot Yarl twice when the young man rang his doorbell by mistake. Now, Lester's grandson is sharing his insights into his grandfather's actions.
SOURCE : https://www.kctv5.com/video/2023/04/21/grandson-man-accused-shooting-ralph-yarl-is-disgusted/?outputType=amp
Northern Kansas City, where Ralph Yarl was shot, has a problem with race, some residents say
Black Kansas City residents say they avoid the area north of the Missouri River to stay safe.
“Abarca, a Jackson County legislator, penned an open letter to Clay County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte, urging the leader to call for gun reform and acknowledge concerns about a culture of racism in Kansas City’s Northland, the large area north of the Missouri River encompassing counties, cities and towns.
“I have known for a long time that once I crossed the river-North, I should expect a change in the way I am treated because of the color of my skin,” Abarca wrote.
Nolte has not publicly responded, nor has he responded to a request for comment from NBC News.
The letter came just four days after Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot in Clay County’s Nashua neighborhood after mistaking one home for another nearby. Andrew Lester, 84, was charged Monday with felonious first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
SOURCE : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna80807
Ralph Yarl case highlights 'adultification' of Black children, researchers say
Black children are more likely to be seen as adult-like than white children.
ByKiara Alfonseca
April 19, 2023, 3:06 PM EST
Adultification refers to the racial bias in which people perceive Black children as older and less innocent than white children.
Research has shown that people often perceive young Black males as bigger and more physically threatening than young white males of the same size.
Studies also found that Black children are more likely to be seen as adult-like, less in need of protection, and perceived as angry when they're not.
This can have devastating consequences, leading to discrimination and even violence against Black children, according to researchers. Several researchers referred to the bias as "dehumanizing" for Black people.
"This country, unfortunately, has a history of dehumanizing the Black body, the Black family and taking away those freedoms that should be enjoyed by everybody," said Alison Cooke, a statistician at the UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, in an interview with ABC News.
SOURCE : https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/ralph-yarl-case-highlights-adultification-black-children-researchers/story?id=98662646
Grandson of man who shot Ralph Yarl says 'fear' and conspiracies consume him
While family members of Andrew Lester do not believe he was explicitly motivated by race in the shooting of Yarl, a Black teenager, they say he must be held accountable.
SOURCE : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna80651
Grandson of man accused of shooting Ralph Yarl is 'disgusted
We're learning more about the 84-year-old accused of shooting Ralph Yarl. Officers say Andrew Lester shot Yarl twice when the young man rang his doorbell by mistake. Now, Lester's grandson is sharing his insights into his grandfather's actions.
SOURCE : https://www.kctv5.com/video/2023/04/21/grandson-man-accused-shooting-ralph-yarl-is-disgusted/?outputType=amp
Northern Kansas City, where Ralph Yarl was shot, has a problem with race, some residents say
Black Kansas City residents say they avoid the area north of the Missouri River to stay safe.
“Abarca, a Jackson County legislator, penned an open letter to Clay County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte, urging the leader to call for gun reform and acknowledge concerns about a culture of racism in Kansas City’s Northland, the large area north of the Missouri River encompassing counties, cities and towns.
“I have known for a long time that once I crossed the river-North, I should expect a change in the way I am treated because of the color of my skin,” Abarca wrote.
Nolte has not publicly responded, nor has he responded to a request for comment from NBC News.
The letter came just four days after Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot in Clay County’s Nashua neighborhood after mistaking one home for another nearby. Andrew Lester, 84, was charged Monday with felonious first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
SOURCE : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna80807
Ralph Yarl case highlights 'adultification' of Black children, researchers say
Black children are more likely to be seen as adult-like than white children.
ByKiara Alfonseca
April 19, 2023, 3:06 PM EST
Adultification refers to the racial bias in which people perceive Black children as older and less innocent than white children.
Research has shown that people often perceive young Black males as bigger and more physically threatening than young white males of the same size.
Studies also found that Black children are more likely to be seen as adult-like, less in need of protection, and perceived as angry when they're not.
This can have devastating consequences, leading to discrimination and even violence against Black children, according to researchers. Several researchers referred to the bias as "dehumanizing" for Black people.
"This country, unfortunately, has a history of dehumanizing the Black body, the Black family and taking away those freedoms that should be enjoyed by everybody," said Alison Cooke, a statistician at the UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, in an interview with ABC News.
SOURCE : https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/ralph-yarl-case-highlights-adultification-black-children-researchers/story?id=98662646
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