Malkia Cyril
Malkia Amala Devich-Cyril (born May 2, 1974) is a poet and media activist best known for spearheading national grassroots efforts of the Net Neutrality campaign, framing the discourse on protecting net neutrality as shifting away from the notion of "media democracy" and instead as a case of "media justice." They are the executive director of the Center for Media Justice, and a co-founder of the Media Action Grassroots Network. Devich-Cyril's writings on media activism frequently appear in national publications such as "Politico", the "Huffington Post", and "The Guardian" Creative writing, including poetry and short -stories, have been published in anthologies such as "Afrekete: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Writing", "Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café", and "In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers". Devich-Cyril is the spouse of comedian and editor Alana Devich-Cyril, and child of Janet Cyril, an activist in the Black Panther Party. Born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Cyril learned to read at the Liberation Bookstore in Harlem. They refer to growing up in the party as "in and of itself a blessing."