EMU gets the opportunity to hear from the BSA club in a new and intimate way: Barbershop Talk, the club’s new podcast. “The podcast means so much to us; we see it as a platform to educate and inform our campus community, as well as the world, to the lives of young black individuals,” said senior JD Richardson, co-host of Barbershop Talk and co-president of BSA. The podcast’s other co-host is sophomore Merry Yirga, co-president of BSA. The name comes from the barbershop that had previously been a safe space for students of color but was given up by BSA so that EMU could have a space for COVID-19 testing.
Senior and BSA secretary Maya Dula affirmed what Richardson said, stating that the podcast’s purpose is “to give people a chance to know BSA better and to inform. Most weeks a professor will be with us, talking about their discipline and its intersection with race.”
EMU is a PWI—a Predominantly White Institution, meaning an institution that historically has and continues to be largely populated by white students and faculty. That in itself has had effects on students of color, past and present, in terms of lack of representation and feelings of not having a voice in school matters. Barbershop Talk will emphasize, in the words of Richardson, “bring[ing] a voice to Black students navigating through a PWI and bring[ing] a voice to being young and black in America.”
Ani Beitzel, a first-year student that works with the sound aspect of the podcast, explained that with the protests going on that don’t seem to be slowing down, with good reason, it is more important than ever for students of color to have support, and allies to have resources. The podcast will discuss “current events and educational topics as well as topics that deal with pop culture and our personal lives,” said Richardson.
For Yirga, the podcast is “a platform to uplift the voices of us BSA members as well as Black students on campus. We hope to inform people as well as let them in on what conversations we have in BSA and our daily lives. It feels like a step in the right direction for EMU and the BIPOC students.” Podcasts have been increasingly popular in the past couple of years, especially among the age demographic of college students, so this is a relevant way to engage students in a medium that can be experienced from a safe distance. Beitzel expressed that it is not the job of the BIPOC students on campus to educate students on campus, and yet BSA has graciously provided EMU with the opportunity to learn and grow together in an incredibly meaningful way. Barbershop Talk will be up on YouTube and the team is working hard on making it accessible on other streaming platforms, so stay tuned.
