Black entrepreneur and widely beloved Promoter Brian "Bizzy" Benton founded 816 Day in 2017. Now in 2026 KCTV5 calls the event "inaugural." Black Kansas City has a lot to say.
A Black child ran ahead of his mother into Harris Park and called it the best day of his life. He did not yet know whose names would be spoken there, or what his people had survived to give him a day like this one. He will understand it someday. We spent the whole afternoon teaching him without saying a word.
On June 19, the Defender and Decarcerate KC fill the field with Black vendors, good music, and family reunion energy, free and open to the whole city.
A new Westport social hub blends coffee, collaboration, and community for Kansas City creatives.
At a suburban athletic facility in Independence, MO, a KCK firefighter turned a simple TikTok into a laboratory for joy, safety, and a new kind of public life.
In a time of rising fascism and constant fear-mongering about Black gatherings, our people proved what we’ve always known: we don’t need overseers & state agents to be safe. We keep us safe. And we make it joyful.
We gave $5,000 in no-strings-attached cash to Black people at 31st & Prospect as a declaration that our people deserve love, not surveillance. Resources, not cages. In a city built to crush our joy, we chose to flood it with life.
Community support is the lifeblood to the sustainability & growth of our urgent work among Black youth. Will you help us by becoming a Defender?
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