5 Black Anti-Racist Activists You Need to Support
By Onipede Oluwatobiloba Ifeoluwa (she/her)
GaneshSpace is a community organization dedicated to creating equity through mindfulness education. We believe that mindfulness can undo internalized bias and can guide us to take personal action towards the liberation for all. Subscribe to our newsletter now to learn how to create change from the inside out: https://www.ganeshspace.org/subscribe
If there’s one thing that plagues us as humans, it’s racial injustice and racism. Being judged, profiled, wrongfully accused, constantly dealt the short end of the stick, and more often shot because of the color of your skin is so much evil for one race to bear. Racial injustice didn’t begin in 2020, it has been persistent over time and the construct or race was created so that white supremacy can continue to remain in power. For some, fighting racism is a fight for life, for others it’s a fight for equality amongst races. What is your role in this fight?
However, like most fights, the first step is awareness and education. TWe must acknowledge the people whose fight against racism is their day job and in a bid to strengthen the coalition of anti-racist allies, here are five anti-racist activists you should support.
Ashlee Marie Preston
Ashlee Marie Preston is a civil rights activist, journalist and American media personality. Ashlee is the first transgender woman to become editor-in-chief of Wear Your Voice Magazine. She’s also the first openly trans person to contest for state office in California. Being a trans woman of color, Ashlee believes that Black trans women are the most marginalized, at-risk communities in the world, even though they’ve been in the forefront of multiple fights and movements against racial injustice. This is why she’s devoted to creating measurable impact in her community. Just recently, she’s organizing a walkout to Netflix due to the insensitive comments against transgender people made in one of the streaming platform’s shows. To keep up with Ashlee Marie Preston, visit Instagram @ashleemariepreston or Twitter @AshleeMPreston.
Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu
Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu is a highly achieved British-Nigerian activist with an arsenal of degrees. She’s a lawyer, a political and women’s right activist and the author of This is Why I Resist: Don’t Define My Black Identity who claims she has an allergic reaction to discrimination. Dr. Shola believes that Black people and other minority races shouldn’t feel like it’s their responsibility to educate whites on the racism perpetuated by whites. She then goes ahead to implore the whites to educate themselves on the premise. Dr. Shola is known for her prime TV debates especially the one with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain where she called Britain an institutionally racist country while Piers discredited it as a nonsensical statement. She’s available across social media platforms from Instagram @SholaMos1 to her website.
Afua Hirsch
Afua Hirsch is an award-winning writer and a former barrister who is a columnist on The Guardian newspaper. She’s best known for her stirring 2018 bestseller, Brit(ish) which dissected the issues of race and identity in the UK. For her, what Black people and people of other ethnic minorities are facing is a system that’s designed to view them as expendable. Afua believes that the structural and colonial racism instituted across the world is of British origin and to deal with the repercussive effects of slavery over a century later, the British government should dismantle the system, rather than de-escalate its evidence. You can keep up with the works of Afua Hirsch on Instagram @Afuahirsch or her website
Brittanie Wilson
Brittanie Wilson is an activist, model, campaigner and disability advocate. As a Black woman living with disability, Brittanie uses her platform to dissect disability rights discussions. Brittanie fights against ableism as she’s part of the campaign to normalize disabled bodies and their employability. Brittanie Wilson is also part of the conversation as to why sub-minimum wages should be phased out as disabled people currently earn less than the abled. Brittanie spoke at the Minnesota Legislatures and she’s proven to be a great disabled rights activist. To follow Brittanie Wilson, head over to Instagram @brittanie.wilson.
Ericka Hart
Ericka Hart is an American sex educator, cancer survivor, professor, and model who focuses on injustices related to race, gender, and sexual orientation. She’s devoted her life to the fight against oppression as a queer, non-binary person of color and she challenges anti-Blackness wherever it may be present from medicine to academia, fashion, etc. Ericka was featured on Forbes where she talked about these injustices as well as the topic of sex. You can follow Ericka to see more of her on ihartericka.com or @ihartericka on Instagram.
As we seek social liberation against racial injustices, learning the different aspects of the problem is imperative to understanding it and expanding the mind. One way of achieving this understanding is by learning from the people in the fighting communities who possess untainted experiences on these identities. The above-mentioned people contribute a great deal in promoting the cause and they can provide a plethora of information through their combined wealth of experiences on the subject and the identities they either hold individually or share. Their various backgrounds, personalities, and experiences make the information they possess diverse but well-centered.
About the Author
Oluwatobiloba or Tobi is a Nigerian Lawyer and freelance writer who lives and breathes words. Bringing life to meaningful conversations all around the world by helping to create inspiring and articulate posts brings her utmost joy. Her personal watchword is “if you can think it, then I can write it.”
Tobi has been a freelancer for over five years and has written articles that have enjoyed wide coverage in several corners of the world. In her spare time, she loves to travel, try her hands on exciting new ventures, watch sports and read novels.
