April is National Poetry Month, so on this episode, we're passing the mic to a handful of talented poets — the people who narrate our lives and help us better understand our own experiences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
For more than two decades, a cellphone store in Washington, D.C. has blasted go-go music right outside of its front door. But a recent noise complaint from a resident of a new, upscale apartment building in the area brought the music to a halt — highlighting the tensions over gentrification in the nation's capital. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
In 1968, thousands of students participated in a series of protests for equity in education that sparked the Chicano Movement. But for two of the students at one struggling high school, that civil unrest — which became known as East L.A. Walkouts — also marked the beginning of a 50-year romance. This week, Code Switch is cosigning that love story, brought to us by our play-cousins at Latino USA. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Support for Israel has long been the rare bipartisan position among lawmakers in Washington. But recently, several younger, brown members of Congress have vocally questioned the U.S.'s relationship with Israel — and were met with fierce condemnation, including charges that their criticism was anti-Semitic. On this episode: We're talking about why it remains so hard to have nuanced conversations about Israel. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Polic...
This week, we tackle reader questions on vegetarianism, the specter of grocery store Columbuses, and the quiet opprobrium directed at "smelly ethnic foods" in the workplace. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Fifty years ago, a multiracial coalition of students at a commuter college in San Francisco went on strike. And while their bloody, bitter standoff has been largely forgotten, it forever changed higher education in the United States. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
What does "civility" look like and who gets to define it? What about "respectable" behavior? This week, we're looking at how behavior gets policed in public. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
A deadly tornado ripped through Lee County Alabama this past Sunday. An NPR investigation found that white Americans and those with safety nets often receive more federal dollars after a disaster than people of color and Americans with less wealth. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
When Colin Kaepernick stopped standing for the national anthem at NFL games it sparked a nationwide conversation about patriotism and police brutality. Black athletes using their platform to protest injustice has long been a tradition in American history. In this episode we tap in our friends at Throughline to explore three stories of protest that are rarely told but essential to understanding the current debate: the heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, the sprinter Wilma Rudolph, and the basketball ...
Anali, a young woman from Los Angeles, wants to break into the film industry. A local program taught her the skills of the trade and the language, but will any of that that matter in an industry that runs mostly on connections? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Okay, news cycle: you win. We're talking about blackface. This week, we delve into the hidden history of "blackening up" in popular culture — from a certain iconic cartoon mouse's minstrel past to Instagram models trying to pass as black. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Another week of racial controversies, another week of calls to "start a dialogue on race." What does that even mean? We talk to two veterans of one high-profile attempt at a national conversation on race, who have different views of its effectiveness. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Some may think of beauty as frivolous and fun, but on this episode, we're examining a few of the ugly ways that its been used to project power. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Another day, another drama: Last week, a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration's decision to add a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 census. But if the Justice Department has any say, the fight will go on...all the way to the Supreme Court. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Jason Kim and his father were once very close, but drifted apart after the family came to the United States from Korea. They drifted even further after Jason came out to his parents as gay. But after a health crisis, Jason and his father try to reckon with the silence between them. This week, a story about a family's hopes, dreams, and obligations, brought to us by the dope folks at WNYC's Nancy podcast. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Meet one of the people caught up in the Trump Administration's hard-line stance on immigration: Javier Zamora. He was living in the US legally under Temporary Protected Status but when the White House threatened to take it away, Javier went back to El Salvador to apply for a new visa. He didn't know if he'd ever return to the US, his home of nearly twenty years. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
This week, we're uncovering the stories behind three American Anthems. First, we hear from two musical greats about their respective versions of "Fight the Power." Next, we learned about the transformation of the children's choir staple, "This Little Light of Mine." Finally, we took a trip down "Whittier Blvd." Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Spit into a tube and get in touch with your ancestors! Or not. This week we're revisiting a conversation about DNA, and what it tells us about who we are. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
A professor at the University of Texas San Antonio designed a college course based around episodes of the Code Switch podcast! In it, her students learned how to have tough conversations about race and identity, using Shereen and Gene as an example. But after an incident on campus involving the police made national news, their theoretical classroom discussions stopped being polite and started getting real. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
We checked in with authors, poets and great literary minds to see what books they think everyone should read this holiday season. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Reporter Julia Simon tells us about a radical miners' union in Birmingham, Alabama. It laid the foundation for civil rights organizers in the South, and holds lessons for the future of labor. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
On this episode, we're hanging out with pups. First, is Kat's anxious dog Samson really just a little beagle bigot? Then, the author Bronwen Dickey and the political scientist Michael Tesler explain how the pitbull transformed from America's most beloved sidekick to a doggo non grata. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Gene and Shereen talk to poet Denice Frohman, percussionist Bobby Sanabria, chef Marcus Samuelsson and comedian Ashley Nicole Black at Harlem's World Famous Apollo Theater in New York City. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The news item about the shooting was bare: one man shot another 17 times in a dispute over drugs. The actual story — of a family that feared for its safety but who couldn't rely on the police for help — was far more complicated. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
We know where your mind's going to be this week: midterm election results!!! So, we're handing the reins over to our play cousins from NPR's Politics Podcast. They'll tell you what happened and what it all means. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Ron Brown High School was built on a novel notion: a school for boys of color, based on a model of restorative justice. We visited the school last year for several episodes to follow its first-ever freshman class. This week, we're going back to see whether the school's unique approach to education is bearing fruit. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
This week: why people don't vote, why people can't vote, and two state races that might have national implications for 2020. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
So "The Star-Spangled Banner" is kind of a mess: notoriously tough to sing and with some weird stanzas about slavery. This week, we're looking at two of the country's other anthems with their own messy histories to find out what those songs tell us about American ideals . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
This week, we're handing the mic over to transracial adoptees. They told us what they think is missing from mainstream narratives about adoption, and how being an adoptee is an identity unto itself. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Decades before Christine Blasey-Ford testified before lawmakers, the country had another reckoning with sexual misconduct set against the backdrop of a Supreme Court nomination. This week: what we have — and haven't — learned in the years since the Anita Hill hearings about identity politics, sexual harassment and power. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
