TKC TUESDAY MUST READ!!! UMKC KANGAROO NEWSIE ESMIE EXAMINES KANSAS CITY RACIAL REAL ESTATE CONFLICT HISTORY IN CONTEXT OF HER OWN REAL CRIME ADVENTURES!!!

This morning we'd like to educate and inform our blog community with a fascinating bit of scholarship from a young reporter working at the City College but attempting to influence the culture across the metro.

To wit . . .

SPECIAL THANKS TO AWESOME TKC TIPSTERS FOR SENDING THIS PUBLICLY POSTED ACADEMIC TREATISE ON THE KANSAS CITY RACIAL REAL ESTATE DEBATE AUTHORED BY ESMIE TSENG!!!

Now, not so long ago we sent a note to Ms. Tseng on the topic of her history and here's the reply:

"I would rather not talk about the events from over 11 years ago as I am trying to rebuild my life and move on peacefully."

Fair enough.

However, a recent bit of scholarship offers some insight on her past in context of the longstanding Kansas City racial real estate debate which still impacts local culture.

A quote from Esmie's research:

"It was not until much later during my experience at 16 years old with the criminal justice system when I realized how much my privilege as a child of Chinese, “model minority” immigrants from Johnson County benefited me in a way not granted to, for example, a black teenager who committed a similar or a lesser crime in a different neighborhood. 

I noticed interesting patterns over the years: black inmates serving five to ten years for marijuana charges starkly contrasted with the one or two years that white, “soccer mom”-looking types were sentenced for manufacturing methamphetamine. In my interactions with various people, I would hear sharply different experiences with the court system. Some, usually white, individuals seemed to find a certain judge merciful and understanding of their plights, while others felt the same judge draconian and hateful. While these experiences of mine were anecdotal, they accumulated into undeniable impressions over seven years that challenged my perception of the fair community I grew up.

Thus began the “re-programming” of what I had learned as a Johnson County teenager, but it was not until my college experience at University of Missouri-Kansas City when I learned more about Kansas City’s history that I better understood the socioeconomic forces related to race, class, discrimination, and culture impacting real people’s lives . . ."

That's basically the money line of her report but feel free to read the whole thing here:

Reality and Perceptions of Kansas City's Racial Climate

Further reading . . .

There's also a Kansas City story of a young woman named Esmie who served just a bit of time after Shu Yi Zhang, 55 was found brutally butchered - And that might also shed more light on the alleged racial and class divisions in the justice system which the first narrative almost explains.

Here's the definitive write-up of that tragic tale:

Is Esmie Evil?



Money line from this brilliantly crafted report:

"The victim died from multiple stab wounds, and the limited details that have been made public suggest that the crime scene spread through several rooms in the house. What investigators found was grim enough that the Johnson County District Attorney filed a motion to try Esmie in adult court."

Feel free to do more research on the context of Kansas City racial real estate arguments, scholarship and the cutting ways in which they are often used to justify a myriad of political agendas.

You decide . . .