Malkia Cyril Receives 2015 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award

At a ceremony in early October, the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation gave its 2015 First Amendment Award to Malkia Cyril, the Executive Director of the Center for Media Justice. She received the award for her role as a network neutrality advocate and for emphasizing its connection to civil rights.

Malkia has also been recognized for her work as a co-founder of the Media Action Grassroots Network. Her writings on network neutrality and communications rights of prisoners have appeared in the Huffington Post, Politico, and a number of other publications.

In her acceptance speech for the award, Ms. Cyril noted that net neutrality is ultimately about understanding that having power requires access to knowledge:

“My mom taught me that knowledge is not power, contrary to many people's opinion. What she told me is that only power is power. But, knowledge is power’s prerequisite, it is power’s driver. As such, an open, affordable and democratic Internet is a requisite driver for powerful social justice movements and democracy,” said Cyril.

Read Cyril's speech or watch her accept the award at the video below.

Congrats, Malkia! You are an inspiration!