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While the Trump administration continues to complain about “fake news,” there are many who continue to push against the typical, whitewashed political agenda and social injustice…and activist DeRay McKesson is one of the leading voices pushing forward.

GLAAD Gala San Francisco

Source: Miikka Skaffari / Getty

One of the most widely recognized voices to emerge from the #BlackLivesMatter movement is activist DeRay McKesson, who has spent the last few years never easing up on his critique of social injustice as it relates to people of color. To continue bringing his activism to the masses, McKesson has just signed on to host his own podcast, titled “A Word With DeRay,” and it will help give its listeners direction on social advocacy. It will be published under Crooked Media, the new liberal political network founded last year by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor.

Crooked Media hopes to impact the looming 2018 midterm elections by dedicating a podcast exclusively to activism, organizing and what steps people can take to make a difference. Favreau said he immediately thought of McKesson for the job, whom he met while McKesson running for mayor of Baltimore. Favreau says, “Because we’re growing so slowly every person that we bring on we almost want them to have multiple talents. And I think with DeRay, he’s someone who’s obviously knows how to organize and been involved with the movement, but he’s also brilliant and down to earth when you talk to him which also fits in with our brand and what we’re trying to do.”

In an exclusive with BuzzFeed News, McKesson spoke about the new venture, what he hopes to accomplish and what listeners can expect to hear. He said, “I’m trying to figure out how we give people language that they can repeat. I think a lot of the media, not just podcasts, are doing a lot of the ‘Let me explain the world to you’ [format], but not in a way listeners can actually keep explaining the world to people.” He continued saying, “I want to be intentional about how I use platforms to amplify this work. I think a podcast will be a great opportunity to do that.”

 

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DeRay McKesson Signs On To Host His Own Podcast  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com