Sharon Hurley Hall's Blog, page 8

REBOOT: The Myth of the Black Experience

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

Here's our monthly reboot article. It's pretty timely as I've had similar discussions with Black colleagues in the last few weeks. I've taken the opportunity to add links to some relevant articles and to update some of the language.

The Myth of the "Black Experience"

I’m sure a lot of you have been in the position where you’re in a room and something comes up relating to people racialised as Black or to your particular Global Majority group. All of a sudden every he...

Muscling In On Black Hair - SARN Minis #64

Muscling In On Black Hair - SARN Minis #64 Transcript

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

I have to thank Collette Phillips for bringing this to my attention a few weeks ago.

This is not a drill! In 2025, there is an ad running live - not an April Fool's "joke", though it wouldn't be funny. Not a tasteless meme. A LIVE-ASS ad which looks like it's promoting Black beauty and hair, but is actually an ad for Mr Muscle, a toxic cleaning produ...

The Disrespect, Oh, The Disrespect

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There are moments that stand out to every woman racialised* as Black. One such moment is when you see another Black woman visibly disrespected, and it happens a lot.

Earlier this year, we saw it in the US when Bruce Fischer refused to shake Vice President Kamala Harris' hand. That very public, high profile disrespect - and what looked like loathing - mirrors what happens often in organisations and public spaces everywhere, and it's not limited to the US, either.

Exa...

The Importance of Community

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One thing I've learned in several years of my anti-racism practice is that there's great power in community. That's not news, of course, but it's still something I reflect on from time to time.

Yes, as anti-racists we all have our own learning to do, which is why we read books, subscribe to newsletters like this one, attend events, pay reparations, make donations, and so on.

But if you're the only anti-racist in your vicinity, or the only one in your friend or famil...

Building Our Own Table: sahibzada mayed (صاحبزادہ مائد)

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It’s time for another instalment in the Building Our Own Table series. I’ve enjoyed sahibzada mayed’s LinkedIn posts on decolonisation and liberation for some time, and I’m delighted to have this chance to share her work more widely. Please meet mayed …

mayed, tell me briefly about your background prior to founding Liberation Maasi's

At the present moment, I reside on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe people, particularly from the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, ...

In My Lifetime...

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We were talking in the SHHARE community recently about the disconnect between those who are seeing what was history play out again and those who have little understanding of that history and don't fully realise what they're seeing.

Then I thought about my own life.

When I was a tiny person, I met my great-grandmother, then over 100 years old. That put her birth date just after then end of Apprenticeship in the Caribbean, and it meant that her parents were born ensla...

I Didn't Know - Poem Audio - SARN Minis #63

I Didn't Know - Poem Audio - SARN Minis #63 Transcript

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

Today's podcast content isn't new - it's the poem I shared on Monday. However, in thanks for your support, I'm offering you the rare chance to hear me read it.

Subscribe to SARN Supporter to read the rest.

Become a paying subscriber of SARN Supporter to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Upgrade Translation missing: en.app....

Wedded to Segregation

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As some of you know, I spent a few days in Panama in early March. It was a phenomenal trip in many ways. In part, that was because of much needed rest and a social media sabbatical. But it was also because I got to see one of the modern wonders of the world, the Panama Canal, and to find out more about its history.

One of the reasons I'm talking about it here is because there's a history of colonialism that runs alongside its creation - both ancient and modern. At ...

I Didn't Know - Poem

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It's been a while since I shared a poem. This was first published in Decolonial Passage in 2021.

I Didn't Know

I didn’t know

when I saw the pale-skinned stranger

it was the end

of Everything

I didn’t know

I had already seen my mother’s belly

jelly with laughter

for the last time

I didn’t know

I’d never again feel the comforting thrum

of my father’s musical bass

as I lay next to his heart

I didn’t know

my friends and I would no longer chase and

play at the hunters

we thought we wou...

An Update From Sharon - April 2025

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What a busy month it's been, hasn't it?

For me it's been a month of balancing showing up with avoiding emotional overwhelm because the bad news seems to keep coming relentlessly. However, I choose to give more of my attention to the good news that the resistance exists and is active. (And for those of my readers outside the US, pay attention, because it's needed where you are, too.)

With that, here's what's been happening in the past month and what's coming up this ...