Accessibility links
Dalia Mortada
Stories By

Dalia Mortada

Dalia Mortada

Story Archive

Wednesday

Two Palestinian American writers on being denied the "right to a story"

People rally during the "National March on Washington: Free Palestine" while calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, at Freedom Plaza November 4, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) hide caption

toggle caption
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Code Switch

Two Palestinian American writers on being denied the "right to a story"

On this week's Code Switch, we hear from two Palestinian American poets who talk about what it's like to be Palestinian American in the U.S. Fady Joudah and Tariq Luthun say the way their stories are told — or aren't told — has contributed to what they see as an erasure of their identities, and often of their humanity.

Two Palestinian American writers on being denied the "right to a story"

Listen · 35:54
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954284/1212996120" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Where are the Black punks now?

Left: James Spooner, co-creator of Afropunk Festival and co-editor of Black Punk Now. Right: Black Punk Now cover art. PR Agency hide caption

toggle caption
PR Agency

Code Switch

Where are the Black punks now?

More than a decade since B.A. Parker last dabbled in the Black punk scene, she heads to a punk a show, and remembers a question from James Spooner: "What is more liberating than a mosh pit full of smiling Black faces?" Parker talks to James about what it means to be a Black punk, creating the Afropunk Festival and its evolution, and a new anthology he co-edited called Black Punk Now.

Where are the Black punks now?

Listen · 31:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954195/1209844787" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Code Switch: Baltimore teens are fighting for environmental justice — and winning

Students give a presentation at a construction site in South Baltimore. The student activists, who formed the group Free Your Voice, are fighting against a very different kind of danger in their neighborhood: air pollution and climate change. B.A. Parker/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
B.A. Parker/NPR

It's Been a Minute

Code Switch: Baltimore teens are fighting for environmental justice — and winning

From our friends at Code Switch, we present a story about one group of student activists in Baltimore and how their efforts to make their neighborhood healthier has them facing big coal — and actually making gains.

Code Switch: Baltimore teens are fighting for environmental justice — and winning

Listen · 39:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954155/1205561916" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

Students give a presentation at a construction site in South Baltimore. The student activists, who formed the group Free Your Voice, are fighting against a very different kind of danger in their neighborhood: air pollution and climate change. B.A. Parker/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
B.A. Parker/NPR

NPR's Climate Week: A Search For Solutions

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

South Baltimore has some of the most polluted air in the country. Local teenagers are fighting polluters back, and slowly building toward climate justice.

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

Listen · 38:37
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954102/1203315968" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The Supreme Court banned affirmative action — except at military service academies

Protesters for and against affirmative action demonstrate on Capitol Hill in June 2023. The Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Code Switch

The Supreme Court banned affirmative action — except at military service academies

In June, the Supreme Court banned affirmative action at colleges and universities across the country, with one glaring exception: military academies. On this episode, we're asking — why?

The Supreme Court banned affirmative action — except at military service academies

Listen · 37:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197953097/1200354714" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny exalts Puerto Rico in his music of resistance. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Code Switch

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny, the genre- and gender norm-defying Puerto Rican rapper, is one of the biggest music stars on the planet. He has also provided a global megaphone for Puerto Rican discontent. In this episode, we take a look at how Bad Bunny became the unlikely voice of resistance in Puerto Rico. This episode originally aired in January 2023.

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Listen · 38:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1196501231/1199269870" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

What makes a good race joke?

Comedians Brian Bahe, Maz Jobrani and Aparna Nancherla. Brian Bahe, Storm Santos and Aparna Nancherla hide caption

toggle caption
Brian Bahe, Storm Santos and Aparna Nancherla

Code Switch

What makes a good race joke?

When a comedian of color makes a joke, is it always about race, even if it's not about race? Code Switch talks to comedians Aparna Nancherla, Brian Bahe and Maz Jobrani about how and why race makes an appearance in their jokes. Plus, one of our own reveals her early-career dabbling in comedy.

What makes a good race joke?

Listen · 27:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1195064424/1199264475" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50
Islen Milien for NPR

Code Switch

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50

For hip-hop's not-official-but-kind-of-official 50th birthday, we dig into its many contradictions. From the legend of the South Bronx block party where hip-hop was born to the multi-billion-dollar global industry and tool for U.S. diplomacy it has become, America's relationship with hip-hop — and the people who make it — is complicated.

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50

Listen · 34:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1190798156/1199264483" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons
Thumy Phan for NPR

Code Switch

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most popular tabletop role-playing games of all time. But it has also helped cement some ideas about how we create and define race in fantasy — and in the tangible world. This week we revisit a deep dive into that game. What we find about racial stereotypes and colonialist supremacy is illuminating.

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

Listen · 33:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1190797554/1199264517" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

The covers of recent Code Switch summer book picks, including Hijab Butch Blues, Alma y Como Obtuvo Su Nombre, I'm Not Done With You Yet, and The Late Americans. Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books hide caption

toggle caption
Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books

Code Switch

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

There are race books, and there are beach reads, and never the twain shall meet. You know that old truism, right? Well, this is Code Switch (the show about race and identity and romance and drama from NPR), and we weren't willing to accept that dichotomy. So on this episode, we're bringing you a bouquet of our favorite summer thrillers, love stories, memoirs and more — all of which have something to say about race.

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

Listen · 34:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1189451728/1199264521" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

The conspiracy theory alleges that a shadowy global elite conspires to control the world's population, in part by forcing them to eat insects. Kyle Ellingson for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kyle Ellingson for NPR

Code Switch

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

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 proponents' racist fear-mongering.

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

Listen · 33:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1188237695/1199264525" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

How a Black cheer squad in Buffalo deals with the racist massacre blocks away

The Buffalo All-Star Extreme cheer team grapples with the repercussions from a mass shooting at a nearby grocery store. Kristen Uroda for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kristen Uroda for NPR

Perspective

Code Switch

How a Black cheer squad in Buffalo deals with the racist massacre blocks away

This week, we're sharing the first episode of "Buffalo Extreme," a three-part series from our play cousins at NPR's Embedded. The series follows a Black cheer squad, their moms and their coaches in the year after the racist massacre at the Jefferson Street Tops in Buffalo, New York, just blocks from their gym. NPR hands the mic to the girls and women in that community as they navigate the complicated path to recovery in the year after.

How a Black cheer squad in Buffalo deals with the racist massacre blocks away

Listen · 32:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1184324348/1199264533" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

The Fallout of a Callout

Hank Azaria (left) and Hari Kondabolu speak with each other in public for the first time since their fallout in 2017. PR Agency/Designed by NPR hide caption

toggle caption
PR Agency/Designed by NPR

Code Switch

The Fallout of a Callout

In 2017, comedian Hari Kondabolu called out Hollywood's portrayals of South Asians with his documentary The Problem With Apu. The film was also a criticism of comedian Hank Azaria, who is white, for voicing the Indian character on The Simpsons. On this episode, Hari and Hank sit down to talk publicly for the first time about that callout and everything that has gone down since.

The Fallout of a Callout

Listen · 28:42
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1169162406/1199264573" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

We owe women of color for the foods we love to eat

Chefs Von Diaz, Mayukh Sen, Reem Assil and Priya Krishna. NPR hide caption

toggle caption
NPR

Code Switch

We owe women of color for the foods we love to eat

For decades, the ingredients, dishes and chefs that are popularized have been filtered through the narrow lens of a food and publishing world dominated by mostly white, mostly male decision-makers. But with more food authors of color taking center stage, is that changing? In this episode, we dive deep into food publishing, past and present.

We owe women of color for the foods we love to eat

Listen · 32:26
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1161311417/1199264601" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Black History's Family Tree

Black history then, and now (left) Carter G. Woodson and his great, great grand nephew, Brett Woodson Bailey. NPR hide caption

toggle caption
NPR

Code Switch

Black History's Family Tree

Brett Woodson Bailey grew up knowing he was the descendant of "the father of Black history," Carter G. Woodson. He also grew up with the support and guidance of his "cousin" Craig Woodson, who is white. In this week's Code Switch, what it means when a Black family and a white family share a last name, and how the Black and white Woodsons became family.

Black History's Family Tree

Listen · 35:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1156522564/1199264609" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

1 side owned slaves. The other side started Black History Month. How a family heals

The Woodson family members at the Woodson reconciliation ceremony in 1998. Courtesy of Craig Woodson hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Craig Woodson

Code Switch

1 side owned slaves. The other side started Black History Month. How a family heals

In the U.S., what does it mean when a white family and a Black family share a last name — and one of their ancestors is a pioneer of Black history? How Black and white Woodsons became one family.

1 side owned slaves. The other side started Black History Month. How a family heals

Listen · 35:31
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1154563737/1155202311" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

How merengue started a cultural war between two islands

La Brega podcast from WNYC Studios and futuro. WNYC hide caption

toggle caption
WNYC

Code Switch

How merengue started a cultural war between two islands

From the dance floors of weddings and bar mitzvahs to the Billboard Hot 100, chances are, you've enjoyed some merengue music – think about the 1998 Puerto Rican hit 'Suavemente,' which topped charts across the globe. But did you know that merengue's path to global fame started in the Dominican Republic, before it made its way to Puerto Rico? In this episode, we hand the mic to our friends at La Brega to unpack the story behind that famous merengue single and how it sums up a complicated and tense history of cultural exchange.

How merengue started a cultural war between two islands

Listen · 43:02
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1156524630/1199264613" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Celebrating Lunar New Year in a time of grief

MONTEREY PARK, CA - JANUARY 23: A mourner attends a candlelight vigil for victims of a mass shooting on January 23, 2023 in Monterey Park, California. At least 10 people were killed and another 10 people were injured during a mass shooting that took place at a dance studio in Monterey Park. (Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images) VCG/VCG via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Analysis

Code Switch

Celebrating Lunar New Year in a time of grief

In this week's episode, we dive into the traditions and stories that shape Lunar New Year, and why violence and tragedy in the U.S. on the eve of the holiday cuts deep for celebrants. We also visit Monterey Park, California, and talk to its Asian American residents and neighbors about what the "ethnoburb" means to them beyond the shooting on January 21.

Celebrating Lunar New Year in a time of grief

Listen · 35:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1152694332/1199264621" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

How three unlikely groups worked together to achieve interracial solidarity

The original Rainbow Coalition NPR/DailyHerald hide caption

toggle caption
NPR/DailyHerald

Code Switch

How three unlikely groups worked together to achieve interracial solidarity

In this episode we turn to late 1960s Chicago, when three unlikely groups came together to form a coalition based on interracial solidarity. It's hard to imagine this kind of collaboration today, but we dove into how a group of Black radicals, Confederate flag-waving white Southerners, and street-gang-turned-activist Puerto Ricans found common ground.

How three unlikely groups worked together to achieve interracial solidarity

Listen · 24:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1150867899/1199264625" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny exalts Puerto Rico in his music of resistance. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Code Switch

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny, the genre- and gender norm-defying Puerto Rican rapper, is one of the biggest music stars on the planet. He has also provided a global megaphone for Puerto Rican discontent. In this episode, we take a look at how Bad Bunny became the unlikely voice of resistance in Puerto Rico.

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Listen · 39:05
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1149529616/1199264629" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

Lori Lizarraga JerSean Golatt/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
JerSean Golatt/NPR

Code Switch

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

From the world of local TV news, meet Code Switch's newest co-host, Lori Lizarraga! Before she was born, her mother had the nickname "Lori" ready for her, even though her legal name is Laura. The story behind why starts more than a decade before she was born, when Lori's mom came to the U.S. as a kid and had to make a difficult decision.

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

Listen · 27:08
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1148151202/1199264633" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Revisiting 'How The Other Half Eats'
Little, Brown and Company

Code Switch

Revisiting 'How The Other Half Eats'

How do race and class affect the way we eat? What does it mean to "eat like a white person?" And if food inequality isn't about "food deserts," what is it really about? We're getting into all those questions and more with Priya Fielding-Singh, author of the book, How the Other Half Eats.

Revisiting 'How The Other Half Eats'

Listen · 32:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1144182863/1199264667" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

Lan Phu and young Lisa Phu at Six Flags Great Adventure in 1982 Lisa Phu hide caption

toggle caption
Lisa Phu

Code Switch

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

It wasn't until Lisa Phu had her own child that she started unlocking her mother's history. In her new 5-part series called Before Me, Lisa asks her mother, Lan, the questions she should have asked years ago. Lisa tells us what she learned in getting to know Lan in this way.

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

Listen · 45:37
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1144492628/1199264675" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Why some Republicans want to narrow who counts as Black

Republican state officials in Louisiana are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on which voters should be categorized as Black when testing whether a map of election districts dilutes the political power of Black voters. Smartboy10/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Smartboy10/Getty Images

Code Switch

Why some Republicans want to narrow who counts as Black

Republican officials in Louisiana want to change how Black people are counted in voting maps. If their plan is successful, it could shrink the power of Black voters across the country — and further gut the Voting Rights Act.

Why some Republicans want to narrow who counts as Black

Listen · 35:26
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1140051580/1199264713" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org