KC Defender, Urban League Hosts “Winter Grocery Buyout,” Distributes Over $5000 to Black Families

The Defender’s Winter Grocery Buyout, in partnership with Urban League of Greater Kansas City (Kansas City, MO), served the people through revolutionary mutual aid at Black-owned Sunfresh. This intervention provided direct material support to our people while disrupting the criminalizing narratives about our community.

This winter, while much of the city nestled into their holiday traditions, The Kansas City Defender team gathered at Sunfresh on 31st & Prospect – launching one of our most inspiring mutual aid initiatives yet.

Our final Grocery Buyout of 2024 was as much about providing material relief to our people, as it was about building power, communal love, and the radical act of Black people just taking care of Black people.

We intentionally chose Sunfresh for this reminder. As one of the last Black-owned grocery stores in Kansas City, its potential closure is a stark example of the food apartheid plaguing Black communities across our city.

But beyond that, this location – and our broader community–has experienced relentless criminalization and demonization over the past year. Our youth and our unhoused family members in the area in particular, have borne the brunt of these attacks. 

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