As part of Urban League of Greater Kansas City’s 2023 State of Black Kansas City report, “The Unseen Struggles: Erasure and Racial Inequities in Kansas City’s Queer Community” applies a deeper analysis to the historical research i’ve conducted through {B/qKC}—examining how our annual Pride, the gentrification of Power & Light, and white lust (all, seemingly, unrelated themes) have contributed to the subjugation of our Black queer population.

I’m deeply proud of this; aside from the essay’s content itself, I believe it is an important addition to conversations of Black justice in queer Kansas City—where cisgendered, heterosexual Black folk might see these crusades for liberation as “different.”

an unabridged version of this essay can be read on @kansascitydefender’s website.

“And that future is one where Black queer Kansas Citians must not create within the bounds of white power structures, but to destroy servility in order to build anew.”

NASIR ANTHONY MONTALVO, STATE OF BLACK KANSAS CITY 2023 | THE URBAN LEAGUE