The Kansas City Massacre, as it became known, had a crystallizing effect both here and in Washington, DC. For the first time, FBI agents began carrying firearms and the federal government launched a war against organized crime. By the end of the decade, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and Kansas City mob boss Johnny Razia were dead. Chicago’s Al Capone was in prison, as was Kansas City’s corrupt political strongman Tom Pendergast.
Is it possible that Wednesday’s violence could act as a catalyst here, or in other cities where certain problems are widespread and well-known, but the response is woefully inadequate? The problem is young people, mainly boys, who are caught up in a culture of violence and use guns to resolve conflicts.
This is not quite the same dysfunction typically evoked by the term “mass shooting.” Police say Wednesday’s apparent incident at Kansas City’s Union Station was not a matter of one or two gunmen plotting random killings. Instead, most or all of the 22 people shot (one fatally) were bystanders as reckless young men feasted on their flesh.
Such unnecessary suffering – at least 11 of the injured were children, and the murdered woman was a bright light in her community and host of a popular radio show for lovers of “Tex-Mex” fusion music. That saddened the city. And that shattered a period of optimism among city supporters. Alongside the accomplishments of a local football team celebrating its third NFL championship in the past five years and the spotlight of a music superstar, people are celebrating the new airport, an urban park planned for central New York. was being talked about. As Kansas City prepares to host multiple games for his 2026 World Cup, downtown, a baseball field could be built next to a park, and various museums are being built or expanded.
Although saddened and sickened, the city was not surprised by the shooting. Last month, six people were injured by bullets at a shopping mall near Union Station after an altercation that, in the words of the Kansas City Star, “quickly led to gunfire.” The same week, local prosecutors charged a 21-year-old man with fatal injuries in an altercation in a crowded nightclub area last summer. The incident came within days of a gunfight outside a concert venue in downtown’s popular Power & Light District. The area was not far from the scene where a prominent pastor’s daughter was killed by a stray bullet at a monthly art fair in 2019.
this is This is just a sample and is far from a comprehensive list. And to be fair, this problem is not unique to this location. Bullets are flying around cities from coast to coast.
Last fall, I attended a retreat with Kansas City business and civic leaders seeking answers to this madness. We spoke to author Richard Rose. His book The Making of the Atomic Bomb is one of his masterpieces of 20th century nonfiction. It grew out of a lifelong interest in issues of violence, rooted in his childhood experiences as an abused child.
Mr. Rose shared with us the conclusion of his 1999 book, Why They Kill. This book is an in-depth look at how innocent children become humans capable of firing multiple bullets on busy streets and parking lots. It starts with violence and threats of violence against them. And we are encouraged to answer violence with violence. In the next step, usually between the ages of 9 and 12, thoughts about violence turn into the first violent act. Eventually, they become known for their violence and enjoy the terror it inflicts.
Rose said it is possible to intervene and stop the process from proceeding. In fact, the enlightened social worker blocked his own progression from victim to perpetrator. But the city-wide (never mind the country-wide) scale of such interventions is staggering. Because it only works on one child at a time and must keep rescued children safe until adulthood.
In the face of any problem, the cost of action feels real, but the cost of inaction remains abstract. Where can we find the funds and manpower to bring peace to our children’s generations? Perhaps this bloodshed, which should have been a moment of joy, has reframed the question, asking instead, “How can we avoid this?” “Can I stay?” you will ask.