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Black leaders in Kansas City demand hate crimes charges for White 84-year-old, Andrew Lester

Kansas City, Missouri – Black city Councilwoman, Melissa Robinson, has penned a letter to the U.S. Attorney for Western Missouri, Teresa A. Moore, asking that the Federal prosecutors bring hate crime charges against White 84-year-old, Andrew D. Lester.

Lester, a White veteran, is currently facing two felony charges for the April 13th shooting of a Black teenager, Ralph Yarl. These charges, being handled by the local District Attorney, do not include any local hate-crime enhancements. Mr. Lester has pleaded not guilty on both first-degree felony indictments.

Kansas City Councilwoman, Melissa Robinson. Photo: Kansas City Star

Now, unsatisfied with the progress and the charges put forward by Clay County prosecutors, Melissa Robinson is leading the charge to involve the Federal courts in further harassing Andrew Lester. Robinson, a lifelong Black activist who currently pushes for reparations at the local level, stated in her letter that the local community had “lost trust” in local officials and the Kansas City Police Department.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting Councilwoman Robinson tweeted that “In America, we cannot have two justice systems.” Yet, when the local police and state officials see it unfit to include hate crime enhancements to an indictment Ms. Robinson feels she is entitled to involve a justice system entirely without jurisdiction simply to satisfy her need for racial revenge.

“It would greatly help the confidence of Kansas City, specifically the many residents that have learned a distrust for KCPD, if your office was willing to step in and conduct a hate crime investigation,” said Robinson in the letter. “I personally would be very grateful as I have two young black boys myself. I believe the community needs federal help and support at such a critical moment.”

84-year-old Andrew D. Lester during his initial court appearance. Photo: PoolTV Reuters

In the wake of the now infamous self-defense shooting—in which Yarl quickly recovered from two superficial gunshot wounds—the Kansas City police saw fit to release Mr. Lester after just two hours in custody. Police officials affirmed their belief that there was no racial motivation behind the unfortunate incident. Lester asserts that he fired his weapon after witnessing Yarl tug at his screen door, trying to gain unlawful entry to his home. Lester claimed he was “scared to death” of Yarl’s size and aggression, and feared he wouldn’t be able to defend himself at his advanced age.

This, however, has not stopped a torrent of anti-White hatred from both the public, and more crucially, the justice system. While Clay County prosecutors have not included hate crime charges in their indictment against Lester, the lead prosecutor, Zachary Thompson, has stated that he believes “there was a racial component to this case”.

“It would greatly help the confidence of Kansas City…if your office was willing to step in and conduct a hate crime investigation.”

Black Kansas City Councilwoman, Melissa Robinson

Protests have occupied the street and area around Lester’s home since the original incident took place on April 13th. They have led chants, bellowed into microphones, and taken to sitting underneath the property’s mailbox at all hours of the day and night to assure that the elderly Lester couple is constantly harassed by an emotional Black mob.

Klint Ludwig, Lester’s mixed-race grandson, also denigrated his grandfather during a CNN appearance, stating “I was not shocked when I heard the news” and calling his grandfather a man with “racist tendencies.”

“He’s just a stock American Christian male, older,” said Ludwig, a self-described Satanist who openly supports Antifascist causes and the racial terror organization, Black Lives Matter. “That’s just how they are.”

Protests in support of Ralph Yarl erupt outside of U.S. District Court. Photo: Chase Castor/Getty Images North America

America’s most prestigious institutions have increasingly shown to operate explicit racial double standards, the hypocrisy of which has not gone unnoticed. In January, two White emergency services workers in Springfield, Illinois were arrested, denied bond, and charged with first-degree murder after a hallucinating Black man—Earl Moore Jr—died hours after being dropped off at a local hospital. Prosecutors claimed the pair of EMS workers failed to render proper aid, and a special FBI coroner was called in to justify the arrests through a special examination of the corpse.

In February, however, when White 60-year-old Lisa Edwards died of a stroke after a local hospital removed her from the premises, there were no such charges or federal investigations. Edwards tragically passed after she was continuously denied proper medical attention by staff at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, as well as a squad of uniformed police officers led by Brandon Wardlaw, a Black man. Police bodycam footage showed officers manhandle a dying Edwards for up to an hour as they tried to shove her into a Police van. Edwards is believed to have died in transit to the county jail. A report later revealed she actually did die from a stroke.

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