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Applications Open: We Are Now Accepting Interns, High School & College Age

We are happy to announce we are officially accepting applications for internships and volunteer opportunities with Kansas City’s fastest growing Black media startup. Click Here To Apply.

We are a non-profit organization dedicated to fearless truth-telling and Pro-Black narratives.

Since our launch just 2 months ago we have reached nearly 1 million users on Instagram alone. We have increased our follower count 10x from just 1 month ago, and we are consistently breaking news stories and leading racial and justice coverage.

In 2 months We have built the most engaging news platform in all of Kansas City. 80% of our audience is below the age of 35, no other media in Kansas City reaches such a young market.

We are unapologetically Abolitionist, and advocate against harmful institutions like policing, jails and prisons, and we instead advocate for life-affirming institutions like mental health, housing, healthcare, and more.

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We are following in the tradition of radical, cutting edge black journalism and media ownership modeled by legendary Black freedom fighters like Ida B. Wells, Robert S. Abbott and Frederick Douglass – our mission is to not only serve as a voice for the people, but to be a catalyst in the resurgence of a fearless and powerfully truth telling Black press.

We are not beholden to profits – our primary loyalty will always be to honesty, transparency, and uplifting the voices of oppressed communities.

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Author

he/him/his or they/them/theirs.

Ryan has a diverse background including working at one of the nation’s most esteemed Black think tanks, one of Chicago’s top B2B Tech PR agencies, a top 3 global PR firm, and founding Kansas City’s largest Black-led direct action group during the 2020 uprisings. During Ryan’s professional career he’s consulted brands such as Facebook, Samsung, Amazon and Google.

He is a recipient of the Civil and Human Rights Award recognized by the Urban League of Kansas City, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and NAACP. He has also engaged in a number of public talks as a prison industrial complex Abolitionist thinker including on; NPR, PBS, a Kansas City Art Institute Lecture, a lecture at University of the Arts London, the Annual International Symposium (Digital Ethics for a Sustainable Society), as well as the T-Mobile Speaker Series.

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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