| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Rishika Dugyala, Jesse Naranjo, Ella Creamer and Charlie Mahtesian
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POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP | What up, Recast family! Elon Musk’s Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch, House Republicans pass a bill banning transgender athletes from women’s sports and Larry Elder, the conservative talk show host and former Republican nominee for governor in California, announces he’s making a White House run. First, though, a chat with a man known to many as “Mayor Q.” It’s been a distressing eight days for Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. A planned trip to Washington, D.C., this week to join other Black mayors from around the country at the annual African American Mayors Association conference was scrubbed after it became clear to Lucas that protests in and around his Missouri city would not cease. An 84-year-old white man’s shooting of a Black teenager — who mistakenly showed up at the homeowner’s door to pick up his younger siblings — sparked demonstrations and growing media attention. The teen survived despite being shot twice — once in the head and once in the arm. But the incident gave rise to heightened scrutiny of “wrong address” shootings, including a recent one involving a 20-year-old upstate New York woman. In that instance, the shooting occurred after the vehicle she and three others were in pulled into the wrong driveway while looking for a friend’s house. That woman, Kaylin Gillis, died from her injuries and her alleged assailant was charged with second-degree murder. Both Gillis and the shooter were white.
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The Gillis incident and that of Ralph Yarl, the 16-year-old who survived the shooting in Kansas City, touched off a fresh round of political discourse, not merely about gun violence in American society, but how race appears to impact the pace at which law enforcement acts.
The suspect in the Gillis shooting was arrested the next day. Yarl’s shooter, Andrew Lester, voluntarily turned himself in and was released the next day. On Monday — four days after the shooting — when the Clay County district attorney announced charges of armed criminal action and first-degree assault, a class A felony in Missouri, Lester was not in police custody. That didn’t happen until the following day. |  | And after a court appearance on Wednesday, Lester is out on bond. Lucas shares his thoughts on what role he thinks race played in all this and what he believes justice looks like in this case. ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: It's been quite a difficult week for your city. I'm curious how you and the residents of Kansas City are coping after this tragedy put your city in the national spotlight. LUCAS: We are coping well. The event that I think is the most stirring to me this week was the student march at Staley High School, where Mr. Yarl goes to school. It had probably 1,500 students marching together of different races, chanting “Justice for Ralph.” That meant a lot to me and I think it meant a lot to this community. And it demonstrated that we are a community that tries to come together even when there is good opportunity for division. THE RECAST: As a Black man myself, I've listened to you speak eloquently and personally about how the Yarl shooting impacted you. In court documents, Lester, the alleged shooter, says he was “scared to death,” when Yarl appeared at his door. You pushed back and said that people need to reassess their biases and fears, adding that Black people are not villains. What made you lean into that explanation, and make it so personal as you were trying to explain the vibe and the concerns among many in your city? | 
Mayor Quinton Lucas addresses demonstrators during a May 31, 2020, protest in Kansas City, Mo., in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police. | Jamie Squire/Getty Images | LUCAS: We explain away racism in this country, and we explain away bias. The challenge with how we explain it away is that you keep getting incidents like this one that are a symptom of untreated racial bias in America. It is my view that Mr. Lester isn't just a purely evil man, but I believe he is someone who has been conditioned over his 84 years on this earth to be afraid of Black people. In fact, some want us to just say, “Oh, you know, they're just bad people, they're just irresponsible and reckless.” But as his grandchild, who has spoken in The Kansas City Star [and other media outlets], has suggested, if you live in a world, a media consumption universe that conditions you to be afraid of cities, be afraid of Black people, to be afraid of some threat — even if it’s not really close to you — then you will take harsh responses. You will make sure your gun is always loaded. You will make sure you come to the door with your gun. Now I don't think it’s a far step to say you will then come to the door and shoot your gun. WATCH: Grandson of alleged Ralph Yarl shooter: He holds ‘racist tendencies’
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| I think it is way too easy of a pass to say this is a one-off crime. THE RECAST: In the coverage of these “wrong address” shootings, it’s drifted into a political wedge issue. The young woman in upstate New York was shot as she and her friends pulled into the wrong driveway of a man in a remote area with little cell phone service. Many who are upset that President Joe Biden made a call to Mr. Yarl and his family, but have not reached out to the family of Kaylin Gillis. Critics are saying this is fitting into a media narrative that so much attention was paid to the Kansas City incident because the shooter was white and the victim is Black. What do you say to folks bringing up those kinds of arguments? LUCAS: Of course, it’s a logical fallacy as a threshold matter, but that ain’t never stopped nobody. My favorite thing is when conservatives have brought up the point, “Why would anyone exploit crime?” And I'm like, I've lived here the last 38 years on this world and the number of times conservatives use an example of one undocumented person committing an offense as an example of Joe Biden's destroying the country and threatening the people of Iowa, South Carolina — insert your place not close to the U.S.-Mexico border. | 
A sign is seen, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in front of the house where 84-year-old Andrew Lester shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl a week earlier in Kansas City, Mo. | Charlie Riedel/AP Photo | Yes, we always talk about crimes and what they mean and their impact on society. The reason that so many people have been taken by this incident is because Ralph was shot because he was Black. Look, the man [Lester] said he saw him. What I've seen in the upstate New York case is I believe that guy was just shooting at the vehicle on his property. We actually have statements from the defendant in this case of Missouri, that he saw what he thought was a 6-foot-tall, imposing person, who happens to be Black. | 
| THE RECAST: You’ve also been critical about the speed with which the Kansas City police moved. The timeline, as I understand it, was the shooting happens last Thursday. Lester turns himself in, and he's released an hour later. It takes four days before charges are announced. But even at the Monday press conference when the Clay County prosecutor announces the charges, Lester is still not in custody. In fact, he was not taken into custody until Tuesday afternoon. Lester posts bond on Wednesday and now is out awaiting his next court appearance. Just referring to the upstate New York case, the shooter in that incident was charged the very next day. What does it say about the criminal justice system? LUCAS: I am a lawyer myself. I'm constantly critical of the criminal justice system. To the extent that there were questions about how it was handled here in Kansas City, or in Clay County — either by the police department or by the prosecutor's office, I say we welcome those questions. I do know there were a number of white cops who worked through the weekend to get charges. But I do think that this is a system that almost immediately goes to build a defense for Mr. Lester. I mean, it’s odd that you can just shoot a person and then get back in your bed that night and go to sleep in that same spot. |  Andrew Lester appears in court to answer charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Liberty, Mo. | Pool photo via KMBC | That does seem rather unjust and I think if you reverse the situation, maybe you don’t quite see [that]. I think the bigger concern is the system that perpetuates some of this, rather than any individual — either police or prosecutorial — misconduct. I do think there was a loud media, mainly on social media by the way, and Ralph’s aunt did make a difference. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know about it until people started tagging me on Instagram. So that’s some stuff we need to look at. I’ve heard my police chief say the same thing. We’re always looking for ways we can be better and we’ll work on it here. THE RECAST: Kansas City is a jurisdiction where you, as mayor, do not oversee the police department. It is controlled by a board of commissioners appointed by the state. Do you feel like things would have moved quicker if you had some authority over the police department? LUCAS: Yes, absolutely. Somewhat tangential to this story, but maybe actually very related, local, state control of the police leads to just awful outcomes for our city, for our victims in some cases and for our police officers. I think that they are underpaid. I think they have a lesser voice by having a state-controlled system. It is a bad system that will continue to be a bad system, and one that is subject to allegations of racism and discrimination — disproportionately as compared to cities where there is local control.
|  People gather at a rally to support Ralph Yarl, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. | Charlie Riedel/AP Photo | Right now, for example, the public marches are looking for answers. But where do they go? Do they call the governor? [Editor's note: The Missouri governor spoke publicly for the first time about the shooting on Thursday. "I don't want some 16-year-old kid to be getting shot because he went to the wrong house — we just don't want those kinds of things to happen. It's a tragedy," said Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who also accused Biden of politicizing the shooting.] Does this change the system or will people fight harder to get local control? I think every week we have a new example of why local control would be better and the people of Kansas City, sadly, add to that list. ◆◆◆ Before we get out the door, Recasters, we have some can’t-miss news items, then off to those weekend pick-me-ups you can’t resist! GOP 2024 Field Gets Elder — Not sure who asked for it, but Larry Elder, the longtime conservative talk show host and failed California gubernatorial nominee, is making a White House run. POLITICO’s Kelly Garrity has more. WATCH: Space X’s Starship explodes just after takeoff | 
| Su What Happens Now? — Biden’s pick to lead the Labor Department was grilled by Senate Republicans on Thursday “with an eye toward peeling off enough moderate Democrats to sink her nomination.” POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek and Daniella Diaz break down what’s next for acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. In “River Spirit,” Leila Aboulela explores Sudanese history, spirituality and sacrifice through the stories of seven characters whose fates weave together. It's in bookstores now. “Chevalier,” in theaters today, unveils the true story of Joseph Bologne, the son of a plantation owner and enslaved Senegalese woman who ascended the heights of French society as a maestro violinist.
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| Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s “Memory Map” exhibit at New York’s Whitney — the first retrospective of a Native American artist organized by the museum — collates five decades of the pioneering creator’s drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures. Arlo Parks blends electronic and dance sounds in “Blades,” a track about rebuilding bridges with friends. She took inspo from artists like Kaytranada and ESG, as well as ‘70s Zambian psychedelic rock. A five-part series, “DEAR MAMA,” documenting the lives of Tupac and his mother, a Black Panther Party member, premieres tonight at 10 on FX. BTS’ Suga (aka Agust D) drops an action-packed music video for “Haegeum,” accompanying his new debut solo album, “D-Day.”
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