2008 Woodie Awards
Into the shadows
Skewed statistics might cause outsiders to assume the worst about Kansas
Rebecca Bauman
Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: Opinion
It wasn't long before the rest of the country started piping up about Kansas, too. We were the crackers who denied evolution. We were the crackers who knew everything about corn and nothing about politics. We were the bland and boring stretch of highway that kept East Coast snow bunnies and climbers from reaching Colorado in a timely fashion.
We were big, fat bummers.
I never saw Kansas that way, never thought so ill of those around me. But I remained embarrassed about my adopted home, knowing if I told family and friends in New York that after high school I had gone off and put down roots in Kansas, they'd think me a fallen woman, a bottom-dweller.
My shame was only heightened when I came across a piece in the June issue of Esquire magazine, one that documented the increase in hate crimes across the country over the last few years.
Statistically, hate crimes, as well as other violent crimes, tend to shoot up when the economy takes a hit. In the most recent reports released by the FBI, bias-related criminal incidents were shown to have jumped 7.8 percent from 2005 to 2006, and that they continued to rise through 2006 and 2007. In a state-by-state breakdown of where hate crimes occurred, Kansas was shown to be one of the top five states for hate crime incidents per capita.
"Stupid crackers," I thought. "This is the last thing we need. They're gonna mop the floor with us now."
But before I could pack my bags and forsake the place that's helped to put me through college, I caught the incident stats for other states:
Kansas had 109 reported hate-crime incidents in 2006.
Mississippi, the belly of racism and segregation during the mid-20th century and arguably still one of the hottest hotbeds for racial tension in the country ... had zero reported hate crimes in 2006.
Alabama had one.
Wyoming, where Matthew Shepard was killed in 1998, had five.
It didn't make any sense. And it won't until one realizes that every state has a different definition of what a hate crime is, that not all hate crimes are prosecuted depending on how any given state might see any given incident, and even when a crime is committed, not all of them get reported to the FBI. In fact, Kansas did report more hate crimes to the FBI than Missouri (which claimed only 78 such incidents in 2006). However, Kansas had more agencies supplying data to the feds - 49 cooperating forces compared to Missouri's 26.
As such, we can't know just how full of crackers Kansas is, but we can guess that the statistics, the all-too-bare-bones reports and, thusly, the outside public's perception of this state might be a little skewed.
I hope this is the case. Because, deep down, I still have faith in Kansas. I don't see here what others see from thousands of miles away.
Maybe I'm too close to this place to see it for what it is. And maybe Kansas is full of crackers. Maybe I need to high-tail it to some real high-society.
But I don't think that's the case. And as long as I base my opinion of Kansas on what I know, what I've seen, what I've been through and not what I read in the newspapers, see in the magazines and watch on television, I think I'll be able to keep my faith in Kansas for a great while more.
We were big, fat bummers.
I never saw Kansas that way, never thought so ill of those around me. But I remained embarrassed about my adopted home, knowing if I told family and friends in New York that after high school I had gone off and put down roots in Kansas, they'd think me a fallen woman, a bottom-dweller.
My shame was only heightened when I came across a piece in the June issue of Esquire magazine, one that documented the increase in hate crimes across the country over the last few years.
Statistically, hate crimes, as well as other violent crimes, tend to shoot up when the economy takes a hit. In the most recent reports released by the FBI, bias-related criminal incidents were shown to have jumped 7.8 percent from 2005 to 2006, and that they continued to rise through 2006 and 2007. In a state-by-state breakdown of where hate crimes occurred, Kansas was shown to be one of the top five states for hate crime incidents per capita.
"Stupid crackers," I thought. "This is the last thing we need. They're gonna mop the floor with us now."
But before I could pack my bags and forsake the place that's helped to put me through college, I caught the incident stats for other states:
Kansas had 109 reported hate-crime incidents in 2006.
Mississippi, the belly of racism and segregation during the mid-20th century and arguably still one of the hottest hotbeds for racial tension in the country ... had zero reported hate crimes in 2006.
Alabama had one.
Wyoming, where Matthew Shepard was killed in 1998, had five.
It didn't make any sense. And it won't until one realizes that every state has a different definition of what a hate crime is, that not all hate crimes are prosecuted depending on how any given state might see any given incident, and even when a crime is committed, not all of them get reported to the FBI. In fact, Kansas did report more hate crimes to the FBI than Missouri (which claimed only 78 such incidents in 2006). However, Kansas had more agencies supplying data to the feds - 49 cooperating forces compared to Missouri's 26.
As such, we can't know just how full of crackers Kansas is, but we can guess that the statistics, the all-too-bare-bones reports and, thusly, the outside public's perception of this state might be a little skewed.
I hope this is the case. Because, deep down, I still have faith in Kansas. I don't see here what others see from thousands of miles away.
Maybe I'm too close to this place to see it for what it is. And maybe Kansas is full of crackers. Maybe I need to high-tail it to some real high-society.
But I don't think that's the case. And as long as I base my opinion of Kansas on what I know, what I've seen, what I've been through and not what I read in the newspapers, see in the magazines and watch on television, I think I'll be able to keep my faith in Kansas for a great while more.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
George Vreeland Hill
posted 5/17/08 @ 7:21 PM CST
Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group.
They hate gays and judge people.
The Bible says not to judge, but these idiots from WBC do so anyway.
The go to the funerals of soldiers and hold up stupid signs that say "Thank God for 9/11", and "God hates fags. (Continued…)
George Vreeland Hill
posted 5/17/08 @ 11:52 PM CST
Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group.
They hate gays and judge people.
The Bible says not to judge, but these idiots from WBC do so anyway.
They go to the funerals of soldiers and hold up stupid signs that say "Thank God for 9/11", and "God hates fags. (Continued…)
old PSUgrad
posted 5/21/08 @ 10:12 PM CST
Just a point of information-the appellation "cracker" does not come from slave drivers or have anything to do with slavery. It most likely comes from the fact that many southerners were of Ulster Scots (Scots Irish) origin, and like to talk. (Continued…)
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