By Lee Hubbard
Black people in the San Francisco Bay Area have always been viewed as being on the cutting edge of Black society nationally throughout the years.
Figures such as California State Assemblyman Byron Rumford, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton and former San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, came up locally in the bay area and then made a name for themselves in the bay area and then nationally.
This also can be said regarding the past people who were selected by the San Francisco Sun Reporter and its talented 25 class. The Sun Reporter, one of the oldest black newspapers in the bay area and the standard bearer for black news, held a banquet and celebration at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, announcing its talented 25 for the class of 2025.
“We salute all of our honorees this year,” said Amelia Ashley-Ward, the Sun Reporter publisher and founder of the talented 25 event. “We have made great choices throughout the years, starting with our first year honorees, in which we selected then San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who was the Vice President of the United States.”
When Ashley-Ward started the Talented 25, she wanted to identify the people who are making things better for black people in San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area. While she celebrated the various movers and shakers in the San Francisco bay area, such as former San Francisco Mayors WIllie Brown and London Breed as well as current San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, she also highlighted and acknowledged others such as community activists and businessmen and women who work behind the scenes.
One of those that was acknowledged this year was Elisha Greenwell-Dargan, the founder of the Black Joy Parade in Oakland. Dargan started the parade in 2018 to celebrate black life and black culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Held on the last Sunday in February, the parade has grown into a National event that has hosted over fifty thousand people this past year. People come from all over to celebrate black culture, music, poetry, food and entertainment..
“The Black Joy Parade is about to be in its tenth year. I feel like I am just now feeling to be truly committed to something,” said Dargan. “It takes a lot of years and sweat equity. It’s one thing to say I threw an event, but it’s another thing to say I am building a legacy and in that way, I am blessed to be a part of the Sun Reporter.”
Reverend Devon Jerome Crawford, the new Senior Pastor at Third Baptist Church, and a talented 25 honoree, believes the work the talented 25 honorees is doing is transformational.
“It is not lost on me that the work we are doing here to celebrate each other is radical work,” said Crawford “Black joy is revolutionary. It is the kind of joy that created, Third Baptist Church in the first place.”
Ay’Anna Moody, the executive Director of the Golden States Warriors Foundation, was also a talented 25 honoree. An Oakland native, she is a graduate of UCLA and Columbia University, she helped to launch Generation Thrive, which has helped to provide 10,000 educators with free professional development and wellness programming since 2019.
“This is a fantastic honor,” said Moody. “As an Oakland native the work that I do is personal to me and we will continue to support the work that you all do and if I can support you and your organizations in any way, I will.”
“This is a monumental honor and I am glad to be recognized by the Sun Reporter,” said Lee Hubbard, a journalist, who writes for the Sun Reporter. “There are a lot of black people doing great things and a lot of stories of us making things happen. I am glad that the paper recognized me and the work I have been doing for years.”. .
“There are a lot of people making things happen for black people and others in San Francisco and throughout Northern California,” continued Ward. “We will continue to acknowledge this.”
The 2025 Talented 25 include Dr. S. Monica Soni, Chief Medical Officer of Covered California; Attorney Paul Henderson, legal expert and strategist; Jestin Johnson, Oakland City Administrator; Ay’Anna Moody, executive director of the Golden State Warriors Community Foundation; Reverend Devon Jerome Crawford, pastor and civil rights leader; Vanessa Carr, strategist and civil engagement specialist; Lee Hubbard, a journalist and writer; Kwanza Morton, SF Juvenile Probation Officer; Attorney Tiffany Sutton, SF Assistant District Attorney; Joe Belfrey, Bay Area sports historian; Anita Latin, religious leader and businesswoman; Amerika Sanchez, educator and community leader; Paul Bellazain, skilled trades professional and businessman; Keisha N. Brown, marketing and communications authority; Maurice Rivers, community leader and organizer; Attorney Kaneem Thornton, Traci Watson-Akbar, founder of Sister Circle Women’s Empowerment Network, Lynette Mackey, suicide prevention advocate and founder of Mackey’s Korner; Phillip Jackson, SF Young Community Developers facilities manager; Emonee Ri’chard, racial equity and public affairs leader; Dr. Steven Millner, educator and Black studies expert; Juan Forte, businessman and community advocate and Elisha Greenwell-Dargan founder of the Black Joy Parade, Minister Ayanni Danyelle Peters and Cheryl Brownlee a communications expert.
