SARN Top Voices 2024

Hello friends,

It's the week of Juneteenth, which means it's time for the third annual SARN Top Voices in Anti-Racism List.

For those who are new to the newsletter, this personal initiative of mine started in 2022 when I realised I couldn't understand the logic behind LinkedIn's top voices selections in this area. Sure, some of them made sense, but many of the people I was getting insights from weren't even being considered. So I decided then to create my own list of Black and Global Majority people fiercely fighting racism and oppression and promoting equality. And then I did it again last year.

While there are people from both years that I'm still following avidly, my aim each year is to bring people I haven't listed before to the fore. So there are no repeats, at least, not so far.

As always, this is a very personal list of people whose content and message have resonated with me continuously over the past year. This year, I've gone beyond LinkedIn and have included a couple people I came across on Instagram, and one newsletter creator I highly recommend.

So, without further ado, here's this year's list, in alphabetical order by first name...

SARN Anti-Racism Top Voices 2024

1. Abi Adamson

Abi is a fierce truth-teller whom I've followed on both LinkedIn and Instagram for a while. As well as being a director of The Diversity Partnership, she is a social justice advocate, anti-racist and humanitarian. On LinkedIn, I've been particularly struck by her posts which make sure we can't look away from ANY oppression: Palestine, Sudan, Congo and more. Here's one of the posts that really stood out to me. Follow Abi on LinkedIn and Instagram, and check out her website, too.

2. Ellen Wagner

I first met Ellen about four years ago as an anti-racism activist with a global perspective. These days, she focuses on a wider range of issues, and is passionate about empowerment and LGBTQIA+ advocacy. However, she still shares insightful anti-racist content, like this recent post about why the time is now to end racism. One of Ellen's key contributions is her Conversation Room series, which brings people together to talk about creating a better world. She also holds a monthly space for Global Majority DEI practitioners. Learn about all of it on her website, and follow Ellen on LinkedIn and Instagram.

3. Gahmya Drummond-Bey

Though she's on LinkedIn, I found Gahmya Drummond-Bey's work on Instagram, via the Evolved Teacher account. I enjoyed her direct and unapologetic focus on fighting oppression through the learning resources she shares. Gahmya is a global curriculum designer, conscious education expert and a TED speaker. Here's a post that really resonated with me on Instagram. You can connect with Gahmya Drummond-Bey on her website, LinkedIn and Instagram.

4. Jermaine Fowler

I found Jermaine Fowler on Instagram via the Humanity Archive account, which brings often untold history to the fore. I then got excited when he released a book with the same title, which I was happy to review. After reading the book, I've noticed that Jermaine is surfacing even more poignant and hidden stories, so I'm hoping volume two is on the way soon. Here's a post that resonated with some of the content I've published here, about visiting plantations. Please follow the Humanity Archive on Instagram and check out Jermaine Fowler on LinkedIn and his website.

5. Joquina Reed

Joquina Reed is another of my long-time LinkedIn friends, who works to bring anti-Blackness to light. This is an essential part of rooting out racism and oppression, so it's well worth your time to follow her. In addition to being an EDIJ strategist and consultant, Kina is a resilience coach, keynote speaker and instructional designer, who describes herself as "ratchet on LinkedIn". Here's a recent post on white supremacy culture. Please follow Kina on LinkedIn and visit her website.

6. Lola Bakare

Lola Bakare is a marketing strategist and keynote speaker who pulls no punches with her posts. She's a powerhouse when it comes to inclusive marketing, and even wrote a book on Responsible Marketing. One of my recent favourites among her LinkedIn posts is "there's no such thing as a 'diverse' person." You can follow Lola on LinkedIn or visit her website.

7. Nikki Blak

In the last few years, educator, writer, coach and abolitionist Nikki Blak has run several programmes to get people to level up on their anti-racism advocacy. She supports this with a regular newsletter, with a healthy dose of common sense and prompts to action. While the Interrupting Racism newsletter leads you to her programmes, there's a lot to be gained simply by reading them and thinking about the prompts. Check out her website (where you'll find a white feminism quiz, among other goodies) and LinkedIn.

8. Qasim Rashid

I can't remember who first brought human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid to my attention, but soon I was seeing him all over Instagram. He is adept at making the links among different forms of oppression and calling it out where he sees it. Though I'm not a huge watcher of videos, I usually find it worth my while to watch his - hope you will too. While you can follow Qasim on LinkedIn, Instagram is the place to go for regular updates, like this post on asylum..

9. Vean Ima

Vean Ima brings both beauty and pain to my Instagram feed. She's a writer, poet and sing-songwriter who shares inspirational and heartbreaking poems as well as anti-racism advocacy, and it's a powerful, evocative blend. The poetry, in particular, provides another way to consider the emotions surfaced by racism, and the multi-generational pain many of us are still dealing with. This post on speaking up for Palestine struck me recently, but there is lots to inspire and provoke thought on her profile.

10. Whitney Alese

On Instagram Whitney Alese is The Reclaimed. On TikTok, she's TheWokeMama. In both places she's serving up education and common sense and making links between the past and the present to give us greater insight and urge us to do better. Check out her work on both platforms, and give her podcast a listen, too.

I remain convinced that we should give flowers to the people whose work we appreciate - and compensate them whenever we can for the education we receive. I'm still following most of the people I've featured on this list over the past couple of years, and I know that will be true for the people cited here today too. And it's my fervent hope that you'll find someone - or some people - on this list whose voice really resonates with you too.

Until next time,

Sharon

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I am an anti-racism educator and activist, Co-Founder of Mission Equality, the author of “I’m Tired of Racism”, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2024. All Rights Reserved. This newsletter is published on beehiiv (affiliate link).