Life & Work with Patrick Sumner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Sumner.

Hi Patrick, We’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. Before we get into specifics, please briefly describe how you got to where you are today.
I’m descended from a white supremacist family. As a young child, I somehow knew better. I spoke against racism at family gatherings as a youth. I was rejected. This starting point led to the person I became. At 17, I marched against Apartheid. At 19, I marched in Washington against the Contra War and the Free Mandela. This led me to local Kansas City Civil Rights, an introduction to the Black Baptist Church, and exposed me to Gospel music. Fast forward through many struggles to 2001. I organized against the bombing of Afghanistan after 9/11. In 2004, I coordinated an anti-police brutality campaign in the KCK/ Quindaro corridor and received a death threat I reported to the FBI. To this day, I keep an eye and ear open to corruption and injustice in KCMO and KCK. I also spent 18 years working with the homeless and mentally ill of KCK. That rich experience gave me many solid relationships with legit and real people from all walks of life.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road? If not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It needs to be smoother. No good deed goes unpunished, and my generous nature and work in communities of poverty created my good. Why is good punished and evil rewarded? I do not understand, but in my experience, life is an everlasting struggle. I see hope everywhere, and my kindness is not weakness. I’ve been going through a spiritual type of transformation since 2022. I dropped out of 9 to 5 work. I have two blue-collar jobs at night and early morning. I come alive around midnight, and I am thriving in 2024.

As you know, we’re big fans of your work. What can you tell our readers who might not be as familiar with it?
I have won awards for documentaries, several of which have appeared on KCPT PBS in Kansas City over the years. I have been documenting the KC underground since the mid-1990s. I was a writer for KC’s hip-hop magazine Flavorpak in the mid-1990s. I graduated from KU with two degrees in 1997 and 2005, in American Studies, which was interdisciplinary, and I focused on Black Studies, history, and sociology in American history; also, in graduate school, I studied John Brown in Kansas and the Underground Railroad on the border of Kansas in Missouri and present-day Oklahoma. Now, I focus on social media development, and a recent anti-police brutality reel got 19.7k hits on TikTok. I have run for public office and am working with Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri for which I also do some media work. My art is in my lifestyle. My adult children and I are alternative. I love my two children more than anything else by far. I am now doing a weekly podcast called Bombs and Cocktails with KC rapper Felix Mitchell.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My kids are an inspiration. Seven is in her late 20s, and Finn is 20. We have each other’s backs 100 percent. I thank them for choosing me to be their father. I must thank Dr. Bill Tuttle of KU, a Black historian, for mentoring and supporting me over the years. My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader, and I thank her. I am working with a pastor I’ve known a long time, Dr. Reverend Alfred White, who advises me. Lastly, at the risk of creating confusion for some, I must thank God for watching over me and allowing me to meet my many true homies with whom I’ve developed confidential relationships. Thanks to my non-racist grandmother, Emmy Jo, who inspired me with tolerance and Christ-like ways, that’s it. Huge shoutouts!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sumnervekc?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093962416006&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@patricksumner7167?si=yIDL1EzRxqFN6C-k
• TikTok: @thedailygripe