The Bay Area is home to some of the most energized, influential activists leading the fight for racial justice — and you should be following them on social media. Especially for non-Black people looking to better educate themselves on anti-racism, the Black Lives Matter movement, and racial injustices overall, now is the time to actively seek out perspectives of Black people and get their voices in your feeds.
We’ve compiled eight Black activists in the Bay who you should know and follow. Each of these activists has been involved in the movement for a long time, and we all have a lot to learn from them. Many are sharing resources, personal perspectives, and updates on protests and organizing in the Bay Area.
Follow. Listen. Learn.
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1. Jamal Trulove
Instagram handle: @jamaltrulove
Twitter handle: @jamaltrulove
Jamal Trulove is known for playing a supporting actor role in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, as well as being subject to a horrific framing by San Francisco police officers back in 2007. At the time, police framed him for the murder of his friend Seu Kuka, who was shot in a public housing project in San Francisco. Trulove served six years in maximum-security prisons, hundreds of miles from his family, before a 2015 retrial exonerated him.
Since The Last Black Man, he has been active in the community and is working on two forthcoming documentaries. One of the projects will document his 10-year ordeal of being framed and wrongly imprisoned, and the other will tell the story of the integrated 1972 University of Southern California Trojans football team.
Today, Trulove is organizing and showing up on the front lines of protests, recently giving a speech at the kneel-in at San Francisco City Hall.
2. Alicia Garza
Instagram: @chasinggarza
Twitter: @aliciagarza
Oakland native Alicia Garza is best known for co-founding Black Lives Matter, along with activists Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi. Black Lives Matter, now a global organization that works to fight racism and affirm the lives of all Black people, was originally founded after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer in 2013 and kicked off a movement. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag has been a key driver of social media activism following the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, both in 2014, as well as several other instances of police officers killing Black people. #BlackLivesMatter and #BLM have, of course, been central to the current wave of activism following the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.
Garza currently heads up the Black Futures Lab, which works to change policy that negatively affects Black communities, educate policymakers, and build a generation of Black progressive political candidates to run for office. She also directs strategy and partnerships at the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
Garza has accumulated over 70,000 followers on Instagram and over 100,000 on Twitter, and many have turned to her for guidance during this time, following, reposting, and elevating her social media platforms.
3. Elisha Greenwell — Founder, Black Joy Parade
Instagram: @leeshag| @blackjoyparade
Twitter: @elishagreenwell |@blackjoyparade
Elisha Greenwell was born in Sacramento and moved to Oakland in her twenties. When she began to feel the effects of gentrification, the city’s diminishing Black presence, and lack of support for the Black community in the Bay Area, she founded the Black Joy Parade in 2015 to revive, quite literally, Black joy. The event exists to provide “the Black community and allies a live experience that celebrates our influence on cultures past, present, and future.” Now, the parade occurs each February during Black History Month, with more than 14,000 people involved annually.
Greenwell is also a board member of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, an organization that works to preserve the legacy of the Black Panther Party and its founder Dr. Huey P. Newton.
4. Blake Simons
Twitter: @BlakeDontCrack
Instagram: @BlakeDontCrack
Medium: Blake Dont Crack
Along with Delency Parham, Blake Simons co-hosts Oakland-based Hella Black Podcast (@HellaBlackPod) and runs the grassroots nonprofit organization People’s Breakfast Oakland (@peoplesbreakfastoakland). He is also a family member of the longest-held political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim.
The Hella Black Podcast launched in 2015 and has built a loyal, growing fan base. The show seeks to “educate and inform our listeners on all things related to Blackness,” especially Black political education. The show doesn’t shy away from issues like alliance with the LGBTQ community, hyper-masculinity, systemic oppression, consent, and other topics. People’s Breakfast Oakland is a community-based organization that runs a free breakfast program, inspired by the Black Panthers, as well as other services like handing out hygiene kits to unhoused residents.
Simons is outspoken on social media and is providing regular updates right now on the protests.
5. Delency Parham
Twitter: @Duhlency
Instagram: @delency_
Medium: Delency Parham
Delency Parham is a graduate of Berkeley High and the University of Idaho, where he played football and majored in journalism. He is a writer who has been published in the East Bay Express, Berkeleyside, and the Afrikan Black Coalition.
Parham is co-host of the Hella Black Podcast (@hellablackpod) and co-founder of People’s Breakfast Oakland (@peoplesbreakfastoakland). He uses his social media to further political discussions and isn’t afraid to tackle issues such as rape culture, sexism, and transphobia. Right now, he is keeping people updated on the circumstances around the protests.
6. Shayla Jamerson
Twitter: @shay_headbangin
Instagram: @shaylabang1
Shayla Jamerson — also known as ShaylaBang — was born in Oakland and, after attending school out-of-state, was back to The Town. Upon her return, she was confronted with the startling effects of gentrification and the unexpected closure of her favorite local spots and traditions. So, in 2015, she founded SoOakland, an organization that seeks to preserve the culture of Oakland in the midst of gentrification and displacement of Bay Area natives.
In 2016, Jamerson was nominated for an Indie Award for Social Change, and in honor of her organization, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf officially declared July 30 SoOakland Day. Watch Jamerson discuss the SoOakland project in this video. A note: SoOakland’s GoFundMe for Rebuilding Black Businesses originally had a goal of $5,000. They’ve raised over $110,000. Way to go, Bay Area.
7. Anthony Williams
Twitter: @anthoknees
Anthony Williams is a nonbinary writer, speaker, facilitator, and PhD student who grew up in the Bay Area and studied sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2015, they started tweeting with the hashtag #MasculinitySoFragile in an attempt to discuss rampant violence against women and masculine hypersensitivity, and they are also responsible for creating and popularizing the hashtag #BlackWomenDidThat.
As a student organizer, Williams succeeded in leading the UC system to divest $25 million from private prisons in 2016. They recently retweeted one of their own articles from 2016, “let’s stop coddling white feelings,” as it is undoubtedly relevant in this moment. Subscribe to Williams’ newsletter, which features cultural criticism and personal essays, and listen to an interview with them about evolving political consciousness here.
8. Porsche Nicole Kelly
Instagram handle: @thepoeticactivist
Twitter Handle: @PoeticActivist
An Oakland native, Kelly is a poet, rapper, and motivational speaker. Referred to as the “Poetic Activist,” she is the author of 2 Kinds of Fire, a debut poetry collection that spans “unhealthy relationships to depression and loss of purpose to restored faith and overcoming.” Kelly often posts videos of spoken poetry; recent topics include getting out the word about the importance of the Census in helping marginalized communities and “an ode to the Black man.” She is also posting updates from the protests in Oakland along with resources for those who are or want to get involved.
