Who does language belong to? A fight over the Lakota Language
Many Lakota people agree: It's imperative to revitalize the Lakota language. But how exactly to do that is a matter of broader debate. Should Lakota be codified and standardized to make learning it ea...
27 Mar 202439min
Getting let down by the 'Great Expectations' of electoral politics
This episode is brought to you by our play cousins over at NPR's It's Been A Minute. Brittany Luse chops it up with New Yorker writer and podcast host Vinson Cunningham to discuss his debut novel Grea...
20 Mar 202417min
In the world of medicine, race-based diagnoses are more than skin deep
We've probably said it a hundred times on Code Switch — biological race is not a real thing. So why is race still used to help diagnose certain conditions, like keloids or cystic fibrosis? On this epi...
13 Mar 202433min
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 Mar 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 Feb 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 Feb 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 Feb 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 Feb 202432min
