KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Civil rights leaders, elected officials and activists on Tuesday banded together for a downtown Kansas City rally in support of Ralph Yarl, the Black 16-year-old whose shooting outside a Northland home has sparked national outrage and calls for reforms.
Standing across the street from the federal courthouse, Black leaders pointed to felony charges filed against an 84-year-old white homeowner as merely the first step toward justice in a broken, racist criminal justice system.
On top of the to-do list for organizers now is to convince federal authorities to conduct a separate criminal investigation of a hate crime, said Gwen Grant, president of Kansas City’s chapter of the Urban League.
