This conspiracy theory about eating bugs is also about race
Gene Demby and NPR's Huo Jingnan dive into a conspiracy theory about how "global elites" are forcing people to eat bugs. And no huge surprise — the theory's popularity is largely about its loudest pro...
6 Maalis 202432min
The musical legacy of Japanese American incarceration
In February of 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government issued an executive order to incarcerate people of Japanese descent. That legacy has become a defining story of Japanese Amer...
28 Helmi 202430min
Why menthol cigarettes have a chokehold on Black smokers
In the U.S., flavored cigarettes have been banned since 2009, with one glaring exception: menthols. That exception was supposed to go away in 2023, but the Biden administration quietly delayed the ban...
21 Helmi 202435min
Before the apps, people used newspapers to find love
To celebrate the history of Black romance, Gene and Parker are joined by reporter Nichole Hill to explore the 1937 equivalent of dating apps — the personals section of one of D.C.'s Black newspapers. ...
14 Helmi 202437min
How college footballers led the fight against racism in 1969
It's 1969 at the University of Wyoming, where college football is treated like a second religion. But after racist treatment at an away game, 14 Black players decide to take a stand, and are hit with ...
9 Helmi 202432min
What it's like to be a Black woman with bipolar disorder
"Three springs ago, I lost the better part of my mind," Naomi Jackson wrote in an essay for Harper's Magazine. On this episode, Jackson shares her experience with biopolar disorder. She talks about ho...
7 Helmi 202429min
Taylor Swift and the unbearable whiteness of girlhood
Taylor Swift has become an American icon, (and she's got the awards, sales, and accolades to prove it.) With that status, she's often been celebrated as someone whose music is authentically representi...
31 Tammi 202435min
A former church girl's search for a new spiritual home
After leaving the Pentecostal Church, reporter Jess Alvarenga has been searching for a new spiritual home. They take us on their journey to find spirituality that includes the dining room dungeon of a...
29 Tammi 202449min
