You consider Kansas City "south?" Is this a common sentiment? I always considered Missouri to be basically Midwest. It's only a little more southern than New York itself. Eyeballing it, Kansas City seems to be around the same as the southern part of Indiana and Ohio longitudinally. Though flat maps can be misleading, I'll grant.
Although, Missouri fought with the North in the Civil War their sentiments are now with the South. I lived there for two years and can testify that I found Missouri to be more racist than where a lot of my family lives in rural Northern Alabama.