Editorial Archives – The Kansas City Defender

Damning Transcript Exposes Truth Behind Holy Brunch Closure

By Ryan S. ● Editorial ● December 11, 2025

What began as a federal RICO lawsuit has become one of Kansas City’s most explosive legal sagas. Now, Holy Brunch’s owner is blaming Black media for his closure and screenshotting a Black woman reporter in an expletive-laden Facebook diatribe. But court transcripts expose what he knew all along.

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Abolitionist Architecture: How Black Designers Are Building a Liberatory Future

By Ryan S. ● Arts & Culture ● December 2, 2025

The newly appointed president of the National Organization of Minority Architects, Bryan C. Lee Jr., sits down with The KC Defender’s Executive Editor Ryan Sorrell to discuss why, in an age of fascism, building a blueprint for liberation means reclaiming the spaces where Black life can flourish

Corporate Media Dismisses Jayvon Givan Case as “Rumors”—Despite Outraged Family Demanding Answers, Hastily Cremated Body & Concealed Evidence

By Ryan S. ● Justice ● October 7, 2025

As The Kansas City Defender published deeply investigative reporting on Jayvon Givan’s suspicious public hanging, white-owned corporate media immediately parroted police talking points from a man so notorious that a city ordinance was passed because of him.

Mizzou Targets Black Students With Racist Censorship on 10-Year Anniversary of Uprising

By Kayla Sydnor ● Education ● September 24, 2025

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Concerned Student 1950 protests that rocked the campus and country, but the patterns from back then seem to be on repeat for Black students in present day.

Collage of Keke Palmer, Halle Bailey, Cassie Ventura, and Megan Thee Stallion.

Behind the Glitz and Glamour: Black Women and Abuse

By Kayla Sydnor ● Editorial ● July 3, 2025

On July 2, Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Despite overwhelming evidence against Diddy, the outcome is yet another example of how our justice system, and our culture at large, continue to fail Black women.

Why Black Capitalism Won’t Save Us

By Tiffany Watts ● Black Economic Justice ● June 20, 2025

In a system built on our exploitation, profit will never equal liberation.

Kansas City Lights the Fuse: 1,000-Plus Flood the Streets, Demand KC Shut Down ICE, and Declare a Hot Summer

By Ryan S. ● Editorial ● June 11, 2025

With scarcely a day’s notice, two separate marches smashed together downtown, blooming into a thousand-strong, multiracial roar that blasted Nipsey Hussle’s “F*** Donald Trump” and vowed to keep the heat on ICE—and every system that props it up—all summer long.

The Empire Trembles: What L.A.’s Uprising Means for Kansas City’s Future

By Ryan S. ● Editorial ● June 9, 2025

Marines, National Guard soldiers, ICE raids and disinformation blitzes. Why the battle for L.A. is a fight for Kansas City’s future… and yes Black people too.

We Lost the Vote. But We Will Win the World.

By Ryan S. ● Abolition ● April 9, 2025

This essay from The Defender’s Executive Editor mourns the passage of the human caging facility tax while offering a radical, abolitionist vision of what comes next. Drawing from the Black prophetic tradition, it exposes the jail as a parasite — and imagines a future we are already building.