Sonita Alizadeh, 19, stands for a portrait before the screening of the film documenting self life, “Sonita,” at the Missouri Theatre during the True/Life Film Festival in Columbia, Mo. The rapper and activist uses music to spread her message advocating against the practice of forced marriage.
Dee Dokken of the Missouri chapter of the Sierra Club wears 500 plastic bags as a message about the environmental impact shoppers make in a year uring the annual Earth Day celebration Sunday, April 24, 2016 at Peace Park.
Tyre Winfrey, 23, stands outside the Kanas City Community Release Center on Friday, June 5, 2015 in Kansas City, Mo. Upon arrival at the center two months ago Winfrey did not know the area well and said it was difficult to get necessary documents, such as a state I.D. and Social Security Card before he could begin applying for jobs. Winfrey said the center also makes it difficult to find work by putting parolees on 40 hours of indoor community service if they don't find work within the first week they have to available to look. Winfrey said once he is able to get back on his feet he hopes to return to his hometown of Long Beach, Calif. to attend college and study human services.
Rashawnda Townsend tears up while holding the obituary photo of her son Desean Parker on Thursday, June 22, 2017 in her home in Kansas City, Mo.
Tony Smallwood poses for a photo in front of family photos in his living room at his home October 28, 2014 in New London, Mo. Smallwood and highway patrol reports allege Boy Scout leader Ian Francis Burow, now 25, had sexual contact with one or both of Smallwood's male children in northeast Missouri and other parts of the state. In a March 5, 2010, interview with a Missouri State Highway Patrol detective, Burow admitted the encounter and said it was consensual. In the same 2010 interview, Burow said he and Smallwood’s second-oldest son had consensual sex in February 2008 at a Boy Scout lock-in. But a relative told Missouri State Highway Patrol Detective Amanda Sapp the boy had resisted the encounter. Burow was 18 at the time, and Smallwood’s son was 12. The highway patrol investigation ended in July 2010. Burow was not charged, but in 2012 he plaed guilty in federal court to seven counts of receiving and distributing sexually explicit material involving a minor. Smallwood, who believes law enforcement squandered the earlier opportunity to prevent other boys from suffering the same experiences as his sons, is left waiting for answers and wondering whether he did enough.
From left, Maiya Jones sits for a portrait with her son Darnell DeBoise, 3, and daughter Jordyn Jones, 10, outside of Jones' home in St. Louis on Thursday, June 13, 2019. Home buyers are turning to government-affiliated programs to ease the burden of down payments, the latest housing market shift brought on by rising home prices. The share of buyers who turned to down payment assistance programs offered mainly by government housing finance agencies doubled between 2013 and 2016.
Larry Young sits in his home office on Friday, October 5, 2018 in Marion, Ill.
Pamela Merritt, a writer and activist, poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018 in St. Louis. Merritt is the co-founder of Reproaction, a direct action group formed to increase access to abortion and advance reproductive justice.
Former Coffeyville Mayor Jim Falkner stands for a portrait in downtown Coffeyville, Kan. on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Falkner was irked when, he says, an Amazon lawyer called him in 2014 to tell him the company was shutting down the Coffeyville warehouse because of “a corporate decision to move the facility into a metropolitan area where they could be closer to their major markets.”
Lizz Huff poses with her favorite knife on Monday, December 8, 2014 at Catalpa in Arrow Rock, Mo.
County Commissioner Robert Holland at the Leavenworth County Courthouse in Leavenworth, Kan. on Monday, Nov. 20. 2017. CREDIT: Nick Schnelle for The Wall Street Journal
Eugene Horn, 47, a General Motors factory worker, stands for a portrait outside his polling station at the American Legion Post 312 in St. Charles, Mo. on Tuesday, November 6, 2018.
From left, Mary Walsh and Beverly Nance pose for a portrait in their home on Tuesday, August, 14, 2018 in Shrewsbury, Mo. The married couple was denied housing at a St. Louis County senior community because of the couple’s sexual orientation.