Our objectives for this first monograph are as follows:

1. To prick the consciousness of the reader with a poignant story of the plight of poor black children who reside in Kansas City's urban core. Telling the saga of Failesha Pickney, a composite character, will put a face on the data;
2. To spur individuals, groups coalitions, local and state policy makers, corporate and community leaders, families, and extended families to rewrite the script by taking concerted action to change these startling conditions;
3. To elevate these issues and conditions on the political and social agenda of our community leaders; and
4. To recommend creative and innovative strategies and solutions to the problems cited herein.

We will follow LaRon Pickney, a young, black man-child, through his plunge into the juvenile justice system. We will observe his desperate pilgrimage through the convoluted maze of a system designed to protect youth, while preserving public safety - a system offering limited vestiges of sensibility. We will pause throughout LaRon's journey to understand his fractured existence, surrounded by five other troubled friends, in a world in which he can find no oasis of hope. We examine the institutional environment that, at times, appears to be as constricting and unyielding as a laundry chute in a mega-story hotel. LaRon , we will see, becomes similar to soiled laundry, stripped from his family by uncaring hands, and bundled with only a cursory look, down the sharp descent into the system - where there will be no soft landing, In addition to dealing with many of the complex issues leading to and resulting from disproportionate minority confinement, this monograph will recommend strategies to reduce these racial disparities.