Episode 21: "Courage is Doing the Right Thing" with Guests Dr. Ralph Barrett & Dr. Russell Robinson from NCCU

Episode 21: with Guests Dr. Ralph Barrett & Dr. Russell Robinson from NCCU

We’re excited to welcome two professors from North Carolina Central University to our show this week - Dr. Ralph Barrett & Dr. Russell Robinson. Join our hosts as they hear about the professors’ backgrounds before jumping in to discuss a wide range of topics facing students and the Black community. They start with protests around the Black Lives Matter movement - both in the nation and what they see their role is in helping students on the NCCU campus. They discuss the mishandling of the capital insurrection and the comparison between Black and white “protests” in the media and the terms used for each. The professors also bring up the importance of voting, and the effect Black voters can have on elections; as well as the way youth, especially young men of color, react to the police differently when in a group versus on their own. They end by discussing how essential it is to break the cycle of psychological trauma and abuse in the Black culture, and to focus on self care and mental health.

 

More about Dr. Barrett:

Ralph G. Barrett is Assistant Professor of Music at North Carolina Central University. A native of the Philadelphia, PA area, Dr. Barrett holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from The University of South Carolina, a Master of Music in conducting from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Millersville University, Millersville, PA. Dr. Barrett is a retired U.S. Navy Musician and Band Officer, and a veteran of 28 years of enlisted and officer service. Dr. Barrett's performing and recording credits include; principal percussionist and tympanist with Gateways Festival Orchestra and Colour of Music Orchestra; the Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Honolulu Symphony Orchestra; Natalie Cole, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Jim Nabors; and The Washington Winds. He has guest conducted instrumental ensembles nationally, and has been a featured adjudicator for North American Music Festivals. Dr. Barrett's military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, four awards of the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda music honors society, and was elected to the Upper Moreland High School, Willow Grove, PA, Alumni Hall of Fame. He has been an active lay leader with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Prior to arriving at NCCU, Dr. Barrett served as an adjunct professor of music at Benedict College, Columbia, SC

 

More about Dr. Robinson:

Dr. W. Russell Robinson is an assistant professor in the Media Studies curriculum housed in the Department of Mass Communication. His teaching interests include mass media and popular culture, gender and sexuality, Black masculinity, critical race theory, new media, media advocacy, and the politics of media representation.

Dr. Robinson served as the chair of the NCCU Faculty Senate from 2018-2020. Additionally, Dr. Robinson currently serves as the parliamentarian for the University Of North Carolina Faculty Assembly for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Dr. Robinson's research concentrates on intersectionality, specifically along the lines of race, gender, class and media representation. His current research examines hash tag activism and has generated a book chapter (co-author), The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: The American Civil Rights Movement Goes Online in From Tahir Square to Ferguson: Social Networks as Facilitators of Social Justice Movements (Peter Lang Publishing, 2018). Additionally Dr. Robinson is the co-editor of a special Howard Journal of Communications Prince in/as Blackness: Explorations of a music icon and racial politics (2019). Additionally he has presented papers nationally and internationally. Further, Dr. Robinson is a Digital Humanities Fellow, a collaboration between NCCU and the Franklin Humanities Institute of Duke University. From this involvement, he has a forthcoming book chapter which looks at DH from the HBCU perspective. In the Digital Humanities space, Dr. Robinson was invited co-facilitate an international workshop at the Lahore University of Management Sciences which was sponsored by the American Institute of Pakistani Studies in 2019.

Further, Dr. Robinson serves as the founding faculty member of the Intellectual Soul Food Lunch Buffet, a student run classroom project/podcast that probes issues of African American popular culture while promoting student media entrepreneurship by way of new media.

Dr. Robinson often is sought locally for his professional opinion on matters of social media, Black masculinity and popular culture. He has appeared in The Durham Herald Sun, Ebony, Al Jazeera English, Diverse Issues in Higher Education and The Wall Street Journal.