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Living in a State of Misery: Missouri, the Heart of America’s Racism
From Lloyd Gaines to Marcellus Williams: Missouri’s Legacy of Lynching Black Men
The heart of America, the middle of the map, flyover country, the buckle of the Bible Belt. This is Missouri — better known as “Missurah” to some, but I call it “Misery.” Growing up in the Midwest, you get used to that signature Midwest “nice.”
People smile, they’re polite, but it’s hard to gauge if it’s genuine or just a social script. A part of me always envied the bluntness of the coasts. In New York, at least, you know where you stand. The closest thing to that kind of honesty here comes from Chicagoans — take Kanye West as an example.
But even as someone born and raised in Missouri, I never got used to the racism. It runs deep in this state. Step outside the “progressive” metros of Kansas City, St. Louis, or Columbia, and you’ll find Trump flags flapping in the wind, or Confederate banners draped from pickup trucks, the scent of hatred carried by the same humid breeze.
Drive down I-70 or head south on 63 toward the Bootheel, and you’re traveling through the old Sundown towns — places where, depending on the color of your skin, you better know exactly where you are and when you need to leave.
Even the so-called progressive areas carry the stain of America’s original sin. Take Kansas City, my hometown. Sure, gentrification is sweeping through just like it is in every major city. But Troost Avenue still stands as a dividing line, a scar cutting through the city.
East of Troost, you’ll find predominantly Black communities, marginalized, underfunded, and forgotten. West of Troost, it’s a different world — mostly white, more affluent, showered with the best the city has to offer: the Plaza, Ward Parkway, River Market.
It’s a stark reminder of a history that continues to shape the present, where civic policies have long entrenched the divide between the haves and the have-nots, between privilege and oppression, between Black and white. The legacy of racism and economic disparity isn’t just written in the past; it’s alive in the streets, in the neighborhoods, and in the very spirit of the city.
This is Missouri. This is Misery.
