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Wednesday

The Code Switch Podcast

How one event in history can ripple through generations of a family

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  Minju Park ,  ,  Sara Sarasohn ,  Catherine Mailhouse

This week we're bringing you the first episode in a new series called Inheriting, created in collaboration with our friends at LAist Studios. In each episode, NPR's Emily Kwong sits down with Asian American and Pacific Islander families and explores how one event in history can ripple through generations.

How one event in history can ripple through generations of a family

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Wednesday

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America
Jackie Lay

Code Switch

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

Author Mike Curato wrote Flamer as a way to help young queer kids, like he once was, better understand and accept themselves. It was met with immediate praise and accolades — until it wasn't. When the book got caught up in a wave of Texas-based book bans, suddenly the narrative changed. And like so many books that address queer identity, Flamer quickly became a flashpoint in a long, messy culture war that tried to distort the nature of the book.

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America

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Monday

Some freed people actually received '40 acres and a mule.' Then it got taken away.

Reveal's 40 Acres and a Lie Part 1 Illustration by Michael Johnson for Mother Jones hide caption

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Illustration by Michael Johnson for Mother Jones

The Code Switch Podcast

Some freed people actually received '40 acres and a mule.' Then it got taken away.

The promise of "40 acres and a mule", is often thought of as a broken one. But it turns out, some freed people actually received land as reparations after the Civil War. And what happened to that land and the families it was given to is the subject of a new series, 40 Acres and a Lie, by our colleagues at Reveal and the Center for Public Integrity.

Some freed people actually received '40 acres and a mule.' Then it got taken away.

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Wednesday

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

Author Jules Gill-Peterson poses next to her book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny Headshot by Kadji Amin and book cover design by Angela Lorenzo for Verso hide caption

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Headshot by Kadji Amin and book cover design by Angela Lorenzo for Verso

The Code Switch Podcast

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

As anti-trans legislation has ramped up, historian Jules Gill-Peterson turns the lens to the past in her book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny. This week, we talk about how panics around trans femininity are shaped by wider forces of colonialism, segregation and class interests.

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

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Wednesday

Should we stop using the word "felon"?

What the reaction to Trump's felony conviction tells us about the word "felon" Jackie Lay hide caption

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Jackie Lay

Analysis

Word Watch

Should we stop using the word "felon"?

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

This week, we're turning our sights on the word "felon", and looking into what it tells us (and can't tell us) about the 19 million people in the U.S. — like Donald Trump and Hunter Biden — carrying that designation around.

Should we stop using the word "felon"?

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Wednesday

100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

Putting the immigration "crisis" in historical perspective Jackie Lay hide caption

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Jackie Lay

The Code Switch Podcast

100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

President Biden just issued an executive order that can temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers once a daily threshold of crossings is exceeded. On this episode, we dig into how the political panic surrounding what many are calling an immigration "crisis" at the border, isn't new. And in fact...it's a problem of our own creation.

100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

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Wednesday

White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?

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Code Switch

White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

As war continues to rage in the Middle East, attention has been turned to how American Jews, Muslims, and Palestinians relate to the state of Israel. But when we talk about the region, American Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, are often not part of that story. But their political support for Israel is a major driver for U.S. policy — in part because Evangelicals make up an organized, dedicated constituency with the numbers to exert major influence on U.S. politics.

White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?

Listen · 38:17
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Wednesday

Understanding the refugee experience, through a time-traveling British colonizer
NPR

The Code Switch Podcast

Understanding the refugee experience, through a time-traveling British colonizer

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

This week Code Switch digs into The Ministry of Time, a new book that author Kailene Bradley describes as a "romance about imperialism." It focuses on real-life Victorian explorer Graham Gore, who died on a doomed Arctic expedition in 1847. But in this novel, time travel is possible and Gore is brought to the 21st century where he's confronted with the fact that everyone he's ever known is dead, that the British Empire has collapsed, and that perhaps he was a colonizer.

Understanding the refugee experience, through a time-traveling British colonizer

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Saturday

Wednesday

Why the trope of the 'outside agitator' persists

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LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

Why the trope of the 'outside agitator' persists

by  Shereen Marisol Meraji ,  ,  ,  ,  Alyssa Jeong Perry ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

As protests continue to rock the campuses of colleges and universities, a familiar set of questions is being raised: Are these protests really being led by students? Or are the real drivers of the civil disobedience outsiders, seizing on an opportunity to wreak chaos and stir up trouble?

Why the trope of the 'outside agitator' persists

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Wednesday

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

Author Daniel A. Olivas poses next to the cover of his recent book, Chicano Frankenstein Author headshot via publisher hide caption

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Author headshot via publisher

Code Switch

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  Courtney Stein , 

Daniel Olivas's novel puts a new spin on the age-old Frankenstein story. In this retelling, 12 million "reanimated" people provide a cheap workforce for the United States...and face a very familiar type of bigotry.

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

Listen · 33:59
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Saturday

Jerry Seinfeld and the fraught history of comedians and 'political correctness'

In an episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee called "Larry Eats A Pancake," Jerry Seinfeld has coffee with Larry David. YouTube hide caption

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Perspective

Code Switch

Jerry Seinfeld and the fraught history of comedians and 'political correctness'

by 

Jerry Seinfeld has the become the latest in a string of public figures to blame "political correctness" for the death of comedy (among other societal ills). But what does the term actually refer to?

Wednesday

Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'

Author Ava Chin poses next to the cover of her recent book, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming Author headshot via Tommy Kha hide caption

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Author headshot via Tommy Kha

Code Switch

Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'

by  ,  ,  , 

This week on the podcast, we're revisiting a conversation we had with Ava Chin about her book, Mott Street. Through decades of painstaking research, the fifth-generation New Yorker discovered the stories of how her ancestors bore and resisted the weight of the Chinese Exclusion laws in the U.S. – and how the legacy of that history still affects her family today.

Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'

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Wednesday

As American Jews speak out on Israel, some see rifts in their communities
IfNotNow LA

Code Switch

As American Jews speak out on Israel, some see rifts in their communities

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

In the wake of October 7, and the bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli government, many American Jews have found themselves questioning something that had long felt like a given: that if you were Jewish, you would support Israel, and that was that. But as more Jews speak out against Israel's actions in Gaza, it's exposing deep rifts within Jewish communities – including ones that are threatening to break apart friendships, families, and institutions.

As American Jews speak out on Israel, some see rifts in their communities

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Wednesday

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

Author Cristina Henriquez next to the cover of her new novel, The Great Divide Brian McConkey/Ecco hide caption

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Brian McConkey/Ecco

Code Switch

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

The Panama Canal has been dubbed the greatest engineering feat in human history. It's also (perhaps less favorably) been called the greatest liberty mankind has ever taken with Mother Nature. But due to climate change, the Canal is drying up and fewer than half of the ships that used to pass through are now able to do so. So how did we get here? Today on the show, we're talking to Cristina Henriquez, the author of a new novel that explores the making of the Canal. It took 50,000 people from 90 different countries to carve the land in two — and the consequences of that extraordinary, nature-defying act are still echoing through our present.

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

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