Episode One "Ahn's Perspective"

For our very first episode we decided to start with a conversation close to home. Pitt Perspective team member Abbie Clavijo sat down with Ahn Overbey to discuss her experience, as a black woman, with race relations in the town where she grew up and at East Carolina University. Ahn touched on what it was like growing up black while living in a predominantly white town. She spoke about her encounter with a KKK march in her hometown, and how it influenced her to want to protest. Ahn discussed her thoughts about race relations on ECU's campus as well, saying that though she hadn't had any issues with professors, race relations between students wasn't always peaches and cream. When walking to her dorm a girl in her car pulled up beside her and shouted slurs at her.

Most of all Ahn discussed her pride for her race, and how despite, encountering things like the KKK march, or having slurs yelled at her while walking on campus, being black has always been part of who she is and she was raised to be proud of that.

“I love being black because there's just so much stuff that black people do. Like my hair for example...We influenced a bunch of different styles of music, a bunch of different styles of dance... we start trends.” - Ahn Overbey

Ahn's story was eye opening to us, many of us had grown up in diverse areas where race was discussed. Even if it wasn't discussed openly or in depth we were aware that it was there. Speaking to someone who is our age, going to school and living where we are was an important first step for us to take in the mission of the podcast.

Where to listen

You can listen to Ahn's story and our conversation about this interview on Anchor and Spotify. Links can be found under the podcast tab.