Robert L Arnold is a writer, poet, speaker, and activist from Helena, Arkansas. His essays and speeches blend historical truth with emotional clarity to call the powerful to account and to speak to and for the people. He writes with a fierce and unapologetic voice about the American South, working-class struggle, racial justice, and the fight for democracy.

With a large and growing following on social media, where he uses the handle "defiance13," Robert refers to himself as an accidental content creator. He's thankful to the internet and TikTok in particular. First and foremost a writer, he often says he uses content creation as a vehicle for discovery.