Mary Sanchez
Reporter
Mary Sanchez is a nationally syndicated columnist with Tribune Content Agency. She has also been a metro columnist for The Kansas City Star and member of the Star’s editorial board, in addition to her years spent reporting on race, class, criminal justice and educational issues. Sanchez is a native of Kansas City.
Stories by Mary Sanchez
Police Keep Eyes on the Street, and on Racial Disparity Data
Missouri data suggests that Black drivers are targeted for law enforcement stops far more than other racial groups. But perspectives differ on what the information does and doesn’t prove,
Decades of Data Suggest Racial Profiling is Getting Worse, Not Better
Missouri law enforcement traffic stop data suggests racial profiling of Black people is worsening even as data collection continues.
Think J.C. Nichols Was Racist? Meet Kroh Brothers
Developer J.C. Nichols has been vilified for his use of racially restrictive housing covenants in subdivisions. But he was hardly alone.
Age of Coronavirus: Policing a Pandemic
Kansas City area police departments are striving to strike a fine balance while enforcing the law during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Age of Coronavirus: Civil Rights Legend in Nursing Home Where First Kansas Fatality Lived
Kansas City civil rights legend Alvin Sykes, partially paralyzed, lives in the nursing home where the first COVID-19 fatality in Kansas lived.
Kansas City Budget Prompts Debate on Art as Commerce
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas' first budget proposal has sparked debate on city support for the arts.
Control Issues
Kansas City is once again grappling with whether it should reclaim local control of the police department.
Kansas City No Violence Alliance Reboots
As mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Sly James has grown accustomed to phone calls from the police chief about yet another homicide. Sometimes James goes to the scene, and the details of one, from a Sunday morning, are seared into his memory. A wailing mother, still in her nightgown, was kneeling in the middle of…
Reducing Kansas City’s Violent Crime
This time, Danelle Williams and Vito Mazzara arrived prepared. The two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers didn’t want to be overwhelmed, like a previous evening last winter, when passersby at 35th Street and Prospect Avenue snapped up their inventory in less than 15 minutes. On this evening, Williams and Mazzara stationed themselves on a corner…
Broken Hearts and Broken Glass: Kansas City Voices Its Pain
Kansas City's protests are about more than just the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.