'You're disgusting': Biracial family in the Northland welcomed to KC with racist attacks

[MrScorpio]

BY MELINDA HENNEBERGER
AUGUST 31, 2020 05:00 AM , UPDATED 3 HOURS 59 MINUTES AGO

It started as soon as her family, along with all of their belongings and their dog Kingston, arrived in Kansas City from Southern California not quite two months ago, Maureen Roland says: The smiles that froze and then disappeared when her new Northland neighbors, near Parkville, caught a glimpse of her Black husband and biracial children. The woman down the street who put her hand up and said, “No, thank you,” when Maureen introduced herself. The slurs shouted from across the way, the pointing, the pretending to retch.

“Kansas City nice” is real, but so is Kansas City not-so-nice. There are people in our town who yell, “You’re disgusting!” at the Rolands’ house as they walk by, and who have gotten out of line at the Best Buy to avoid them.

The Rolands have lived all over the world, so it’s not a revelation that there’s racism in it. But “I have not experienced it to this degree,” she says. “I have not experienced it this much. I have not experienced it this vocally.”

Her husband, Jamari Roland, is a 37-year-old U.S. Army veteran, originally from Los Angeles, who works for the State Department. A special agent to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, he’s here for a year of training at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth.

Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/melinda-henneberger/article245332925.html?fbclid=IwAR1-xKQHjzXU6b_Pw7212QdeSPD5opWYpV2e_ywjCO1kjdl_lkUJqB512wo#storylink=cpy

[orwell]

1. Thank Goodness "Mistah" Trump...

...has fixed all that non-existent systemic racism.

More fine upstanding citizens supporting our vets!

[greymattermom]

2. I lived in KC for 30 years.

It's much more racist than my current neighborhood in Atlanta (OTP North). I don't get the constant south bashing from midwesterners.

[Sedona]

12. Howdy neighbor!

From OTP East (Tucker).

[CatWoman]

14. Stone Mountain here

on an aside, that little girl sure is cute

[a kennedy]

20. Some of my most favorite purses were Stone Mountain made, or at least had the stone

Mountain tag on them. Damn I loved those purses. They are all way to large for me now. I’m more of a small phone holding with another two pockets type user now.

[BKDem]

13. Bless their hearts, the fucking hypocrites.

[WyattKansas]

16. I was in the KC Metro on the Kansas side in OPKS for 2 decades.

I noticed that those on the Missouri side (blue collar whites and those who came from surrounding counties) were very different from where I grew up in Kansas... I finally concluded that it goes back generations where they were more into their clan instead of treating everyone fairly. I had never heard racism in person until I heard it there with pure hatred. It confused me at first, because I had grown up outside a small white town Kansas and was taught to respect others. But now I was hearing some on the Missouri side scream vile hate at a race they have always been around.

The Kansas Missouri border war during the Civil War was terrorism unleashed and there were no rules.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

29. I'm from up the road in Omaha

My take: I love KC, but I think there is a distinct difference in people and attitudes between KC, K and KC,M. The Kansas side seems to me to be very white and very suburban.

[Yavin4]

3. Yet, these same people are wondering why they're struggling in a global economy.

Maybe it's their hostility to non-White, non-Christian, and non-heterosexual people that severly limits the talent pool there and thus your local economy is not as dynamic or competitive with the rest of the world.

Being close-minded has its consequences as well.

[marybourg]

4. This is all on tRump.

[Neema]

7. I know what you mean. It's so hard to see a big group of racists together

and not think "a meteor, or lightning strike, or sudden sinkhole right now would honestly make the world a better place." I'm so tired of bigots. So tired. And I'm straight and white. I can't even fathom what my BIPOC and LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters feel.

[SoonerPride]

9. I'm gay and was nearly killed by a group of gay bashers

This was way back in 1985

Lost a spleen over this violent attack

It’s better than it was then

But not by much

[Neema]

15. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I was in high school in 1985. I remember well what it was like.

I was an outcast for being nerdy, smart, chubby, artistic and poor (went to a wealthy high school where kids got brand new cars for their 16th birthdays). So naturally I gravitated to the other outcasts. As hard as I got picked on, I know it was ten times worse for anyone who even gave off the slightest gay vibes. It started to get better in college, where I found my people and made life-long friends, and being an art student meant my circle consisted of all kinds of other "outcasts." Today I live in a big city "gayborhood" that is extremely diverse, the love of my life is BIPOC, and I've cut anyone out of my life who is bigoted in any way.

But it sneaks in when you see all these MAGAs spewing their hate and ignorance, when you hear the stories of people you love who've been attacked. I get tired of living in the city and find myself longing for an affordable place where I can spread out, grow a garden, breathe fresh air. But then I travel to the country and I see the trump/Pence signs, or the fundamentalist billboards spewing hate, and I retreat back into my expensive city bubble.

It is better than it was back then. But you're right, not by much. Not by enough.

[vercetti2021]

31. This is my fear

Being gay isn't as frowned upon now. Its trans that seem to have the worst of hate now. And next year I'm transitioning to female. I know I'm putting myself in danger because of it

[Neema]

36. I'm so happy for you that you are making that step, and I'm so sorry you have to

worry about the danger. I wish it weren't true, but I know it is. Good luck to you and congratulations.

[secondwind]

6. What a beautiful family...... am glad it all worked out in the end...

Racism is ugly....

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. This is right up where I live. This surprises me.

we have lots of black families around. Maybe it's because they are biracial . We have lots of biracial people here.

A friend of mine said he is really disappointed at how many racist people there are all around us. He didn't realize how prevalent it seems to be. Before Trump people kept it under wraps. Now the crazies have been let loose and it's way worse than we thought.

[uponit7771]

23. What city? thx in advance

[leftyladyfrommo]

24. KCMO. north of the river

[hatrack]

10. And some pushback from decent people . . .

But yeah, we've got plenty of shitbirds here as well . . .

EDIT

From just after the story published online early Monday, I did nothing the rest of the day but answer kind emails and forward them to the Rolands, who had received 393 such messages by Tuesday morning.

Some were from other biracial and multi-racial families, thanking them for “speaking about something we’ve been afraid to say” about the scrawled slurs and the rainbow flags snatched down.

Some were apologies that this still goes on in 2020, and many were invitations, to homes and churches and restaurants. A Muslim group wanted to send a care package, and women from all over the country said Maureen should feel free to call if she ever just wanted to talk.

A heartening number of the emails I forwarded were from self-described “old white guys” who said they’d be honored to welcome Jamari to their porches and VFW hall and circle of friends. One of the messages I found most moving, from a gentleman in Parkville, said, “If you could please reach out to them for me, tell them I am sorry, and I would like to take them to dinner and become their friends. I am a 24 year retired military officer, so I am sure we would have lots to talk about.” No doubt about that.

EDIT

https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/melinda-henneberger/article245430060.html#storylink=cpy

[stillcool]

11. that's got a nice ending...

always like those, so rare these days.

[npk]

17. Nah tRump supporters aren't racist.

Not at all...

[Celerity]

18. Shithole.

If Trump wins/steals re-election, they will have to start worrying for their lives. Maybe not instantly, but surely down the road as the nation moves closer to the coming race/civil not so cold wars.

I see, even if Rump is booted out, almost no reason to ever move back to the states atm. The hate is too high, and we are instant targets. Would NEVER move to a Midwest rathole like these folk did. I so hope that family stays safe and gets the hell out of there. Those children deserve better.

Finally......Fuck those white nationalist peckerwoods threatening them.

[roamer65]

30. If Dump steals the election and takes the oath, the break up of the US will happen fast.

[Celerity]

32. the US is paying for paying for not permanently crushing the South post Civil-War.

Every Single Confederate leader should have been shot or hung for treason and rebellion, and the Union Army should have stayed there until the ideology of slavery was smashed to oblivion, along with any resistance. We did it far better with Nazi Germany.

Instead, in the US, they end up naming fucking major Army bases, etc after the fuckers. Statues galore, plus that traitorous rag of the CSA battle flag flown with impunity for well over a century. Lynchings galore, etc etc etc. Shameful, and ultimately, it may well cause the breakup of the union anyway.

[roamer65]

33. Reconstruction was ended too soon.

That mistake has its roots in the corrupt bargain that resolved the contested election of 1876.

[kacekwl]

19. It's 2020 not 1966. Really a biracial couple

gets them all jazzed up. Weird.

[blueniteflower]

21. I considered it

Several years ago, I interviewed for a position at Missouri. The only POC faculty member who I interviewed with told me horror stories about her experiences. She was not subtle about warning me away.

[uponit7771]

22. Yes, North of the river is known MAGA KKKlucker Country

[leftyladyfrommo]

25. No it's not. I have lived her 40 years.

My neighborhood has every nationality you can imagine.

[xmas74]

27. It's on the Sundown list.

They even warn families about it when first assigned to Whiteman.

Sundowns are all over MO. I have one about 20 miles from me.

[leftyladyfrommo]

34. I don't know what that is

I have seen 2 racist incidents in all the years I have been here. And those were years ago.

But Trump has set the crazies loose. Those people wouldn't have acted out before now.

It only takes one nut per neighborhood to make everyone look bad.

[xmas74]

26. North KC is on the Sundown list.

Everyone thinks it's all Southern MO but if you start around Lexington you can head over to the Northlands all the way up through Albany, Weston and Maryville are Sundown.

I've heard some families are warned when they arrive at Whiteman which towns are Sundown.

[uponit7771]

35. +1, Makes sense there are a LOT of interracial couples in the military more than outside of ...

... military population.

I saw this when I was a MB in Germany

https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-115405750/interracial-marriages-common-in-military

I'm thinking the US military has something to add to race relations in the US, the MPs for instance. You never here them shooting people in the back 7 times while letting a white kid kill people and walking away in the same town.

[appalachiablue]

28. What a beautiful family, precious kids. F the local racists