In Kansas City, knocking on the door while Black can get you shot.

When I was doing research for this column, I thought it would be about the Black teen in Kansas City who was shot by the 84-year-old white man for the great crime, as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas put it, of “knock(ing) on the door while Black.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the story of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, who was sent by his parents to pick up his younger brothers, but who went to the wrong address. He was supposed to go to a house on Northeast 115 Terrace, but instead went to nearby Northeast 115 Street. That mistake nearly cost him his life.

Yarl knocked on the door — or maybe he rang the doorbell; it’s not clear — and, according to the charges filed, before he could say a word, the homeowner, Andrew Lester, shot him twice, once in the head. Yarl was able…