Sharon Hurley Hall's Blog, page 6

Why Isn’t Your Name “More Ethnic”?

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

My conversation with a while back got me thinking about other conversations I've had with white folx and this one about my name came to mind.

I was working in Warwickshire in England for a small national organisation with a tiny on-site team. I was the only Black person and the only person of the Global Majority. I've told you before about being questioned about my desire to take the job by a member of the board, who were also all racialised as whit...

SARN Top Voices 2025

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

As my friend Erin Corine Johnson would say, this is now a tradition. It's the week of Juneteenth, which means it's also the week where I publish my annual top voices in anti-racism list. I've been doing this since 2022, because I wanted to recognise the people I was learning from, many of whom weren't being recognised by LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

Each year, I try to expand the list of people we can learn from, and so far there've been no repeats, e...

"Rest is Resistance" by Tricia Hersey - A Review

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey is a revolutionary book. It's revolutionary because of the way it views rest as a birthright and a human right. That's in a context where many of us, especially Black people, and even more especially Black women, have been long denied our rest. In fact, our rest has sometimes been stigmatised as laziness. It has been denied us because of the capitalist urge to constant productivity and because of the systems that mean that some ...

We Are More Than Our Skin Colour - SARN Minis #67

We Are More Than Our Skin Colour - SARN Minis #67 Transcript

Hello, I'm Sharon Hurley Hall. Welcome to the SARN Minis podcast.

Hi, I'm Sharon Hurley Hall. Welcome to the Sharon's Anti-Racism Newsletter podcast, SARN Minis.

You'll often hear people racialised as Black say that we aren't a monolith.

I've talked about this before. Many times, both in the newsletter and in conversation with others.

As Black people we have a multiplicity of experiences, cultures and attitudes, just as a starting point. ...

A Letter to "Omega Dirt"

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

As I posted recently on LinkedIn, being an anti-racism activist doesn't mean you have to accept verbal or written abuse. And I won't. Not only that, but that verbal hate becomes another lesson, which is how this letter came about. I've picked out a few excerpts from the extended comment left for me by "Omega Dirt".

Dear "Omega Dirt",

Thank you soooo much for helping me start my day with a hateful comment. And thank you for questioning the foundation of my anti racis...

"Skin" Coloured Plasters

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

I felt a moment of cognitive dissonance, as I heard the nurse refer to the plaster that she had just put on my arm as "skin" coloured.

I was 60 years old, and I had just had a plaster that matched my skin tone for the first time in my life, and that despite the fact that I have spent around half of my life in Barbados, a country populated mostly by people racialised as Black. (But of course, also a country with a long history of colonisation and domination by those...

“Missing Whose Mark?”: A Reflection on Language, Legitimacy, and Liberation

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

A while back, I published an interview with Shayla S. Dube . While it was well received, one person decided to use the comment section to take a swing. After sitting with it for a while, Shayla wrote a powerful response, which you’ll find below.

“Missing Whose Mark?”: A Reflection on Language, Legitimacy, and Liberation

Reader Commentary on “Building My Own Table”

Submitted January 17, 2024 (name withheld for privacy) “I am certain the author is trying to say somethin...

An Update From Sharon: June 2025

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

May was an unusual month for me. Though nobody probably noticed, I was less online than usual (thank you pre-scheduling) and I did very little work.

Taking Time

That's because I had cataract surgery early in the month and decided to take all the rest I needed. That meant two full weeks off, and a phased return in the last week of the month.

You'll be pleased to know that the op went well, and my distance vision would be envied by a hawk (well, probably not, but you g...

The Mammy Expectation - SARN Minis #66

The Mammy Expectation - SARN Minis #66 Transcript

.Hi, I'm Sharon Hurley Hall. Welcome to the Sharon's Anti-Racism Newsletter podcast, SARN Minis

About a year ago, I posted "I am neither your mammy nor your saviour". I'll share the link to that post in the show notes.

It was in response to yet another dude racialised as white asking me, a woman racialised as Black, for free or emotional labour.

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Anti-Racism Reading List May 2025

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

This month's reading list looks at everything from leadership and professionalism, to the working of racism in different contexts, and ideas for fighting back. I hope you'll find something to inspire you:

1. From White Coats to White Hoods: Stanford's Racism, Retaliation, Lies, and a $10M Smackdown. by Khafre Jay

This article shares the story of a long battle for justice, and reveals - again - the ongoing racism that exists in many systems, including the educationa...