“Golden Word” is a political podcast about the importance of voting in the 2020 presidential election. Viewers can expect to be updated on current events and be informed on issues critical to people of color during this election cycle.
Special guests to the new podcast include West Chester professor Hannah Ashley, West Chester students and Pennsylvania State Representative Carolyn Comitta.
The first episode of “Golden Word” is with Ashley, who works in the English and Youth Empowerment Studies (YES) departments.
Ashley spoke of her experience working with members of the West Chester community, united in forming a voter engagement campaign called “Power In Our Ballot: Students of Color (SOC) Initiative.”
“Power in Our Ballot is … a group of students of color — right now it’s all women, which just happens to be extra cool — who have come together with some support of Denice and Briana, who work at the Dowdy Center, and myself, because we wanted to back students helping other students to feel empowered to vote in general … [and] to be educated about the election,” said Ashley.
Ashley went on to say that the 2020 presidential election might be the most important election in history.
According to Ashley, people of color and young voters are a large demographic and can greatly impact the outcome of the upcoming election.
“Elections fit into other social action … between 65 and 70% of YES students are Black and Latinx students … a lot of those students are politically active and are thinking of how to make a difference in the world,” said Ashley.
The concept for “Golden Word” started during my first year in college. I realized that my peers were disappointed in the results of the 2016 presidential election and were concerned about the welfare of the United States.
Through having conversations both in and outside of classroom settings, I found that some college students did note vote, despite being frustrated with the outcome of the election.
Some students felt as though they could not trust either candidate. As a political science major, I studied the U.S. voting system and wanted to encourage others in my community to get more involved in voting.
In the fall of 2019, I facilitated WCU Votes, a voter engagement event with the West Chester University chapter of the NAACP with guest speakers representative Carolyn Comitta and West Chester University political science professor Jenna Becker Kane.
I am committed to getting as many people as I can to normalize voting in my community.
“Golden Word” serves as a platform for underrepresented groups to be heard.
New episodes of the podcast can be found at wcuquad.com under the “Quadcasts” tab.
Chikayla Bariner is a fourth-year Political Science Major with Minors in Women’s & Gender Studies and Journalism. CB898616@wcupa.edu