Mohamed Bagha is the managing director of the Saint John Newcomers Centre. Image: submitted

The Saint John Newcomers Centre has launched the second season of its anti-racism podcast.

Racialized 506 underlines the challenges of anti-racism and amplifies the voices of underrepresented people.

Mohamed Bagha, managing director of the centre, said they wanted to make difficult conversations easier to talk about.

“Sitting at the dinner table, it’s very hard to talk about racism, it’s very hard to talk about anti-racism,” Bagha said in a recent interview, “but what this does is it creates an opportunity to create small talk, create conversation.”

Bagha said one of their goals was to create local content that was relevant, would resonate with people, and would be easily available.

Season one of the podcast was released last year and received a lot of positive feedback from the community, he said.

Unlike many podcasts, there is an audience present for the recording of each episode, so community members get the chance to interact with the guests after.

“We wanted to make it a community product. A product developed by the community, for the community,” said Bagha.

"We're all in the same lake". The power of anti-racism embraces inclusivity. It affirms that you are not working alone and that together we can take action for a powerful changes💞. Check out this teaser and stay tuned for the 1st episode coming in next Wed, Aug 10. pic.twitter.com/SiCo3uAfnb

— The Saint John Newcomers Centre (@SJNewcomersCntr) August 5, 2022

While the first season centered on newcomers and their stories, the second season is more focused on specific topics, he said.

Each of the five episodes will feature at least three guest speakers along with a panelist who has been in that particular field for some time.

“Our first episode was about political leadership, the second episode was about institutional racism, the third was racism in the media, the fourth episode was racism in the school system, and we ended off the season with anti-Asian racism,” said Bagha.

The hope, he said, is that people will see some of the challenges newcomers and racialized people face.

Bagha said they also want to break down myths that have been carried around, such as newcomers stealing jobs and not contributing to the community.

“Our ultimate goal is to see where every New Brunswicker has the same opportunity to succeed in this province that we all call home.”

The first episode of season two, which you can listen to by clicking here, was launched on Wednesday. New episodes will come out on a weekly basis.

🎉The first episode has just been released today. This episode discusses political leadership viewpoints in anti-racism practices.
Special guest speakers: Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon, Saint John M.P. Wayne Long, lawyer Neil Clements, and Scott Mckeen https://t.co/FEUMABOrBz pic.twitter.com/FLTYSQ7eBl

— The Saint John Newcomers Centre (@SJNewcomersCntr) August 10, 2022