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Code Switch Race and identity, remixed.

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Race. In your face.
Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life
Aurélia Durand

Code Switch

Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life

Talking about race can get real heavy, real fast. Listening to music is one way people have been lightening the mood and sorting through their feelings. So this week, we're sharing some of the songs that are giving all of us life during this especially taxing moment.

Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life

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COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan
Dani Pendergast for NPR

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COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan

On March 1, two Los Angeles-based capoeira instructors realized a dream almost 15 years in the making — they opened up their very own gym. Two weeks later, California's stay-at-home order went into effect, and the gym shut its doors. This week, we follow the two of them as they navigate how to keep their dream alive in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan

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Ask Code Switch: The Coronavirus Edition
Dion MBD for NPR

Ask Code Switch

Ask Code Switch: The Coronavirus Edition

by , Dianne Lugo

We take on some of your questions about race, the coronavirus and social distancing. The questions are tricky, and as usual on Code Switch, the reality is even trickier.

Ask Code Switch: The Coronavirus Edition

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What Does 'Hood Feminism' Mean For A Pandemic?
Patrick Thicklin/Penguin Random House

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What Does 'Hood Feminism' Mean For A Pandemic?

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated issues that disproportionately affect women. So on this episode, we're talking to Mikki Kendall — author of the new book, Hood Feminism — about what on-the-ground feminism practiced by women of color can teach us that the mainstream feminist movement has forgotten.

What Does 'Hood Feminism' Mean For A Pandemic?

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When Poets Decide Who Counts
Halisia Hubbard for NPR

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When Poets Decide Who Counts

All month long, we've been answering versions of one giant question: Who counts in 2020? Well, April is poetry month, so we decided to end our series by asking some of our favorite poets who they think counts — and how all of that has changed in these strange, new times.

When Poets Decide Who Counts

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Puerto Rico, Island Of Racial Harmony?
Guanina Cotto for NPR

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Puerto Rico, Island Of Racial Harmony?

Many Puerto Ricans grow up being taught that they're a mixture of three races: black, white and indigenous. But on the U.S. census, a majority of Puerto Ricans choose "white" as their only race. On this episode, we're looking into why that is, and the group of people trying to change it.

Puerto Rico, Island Of Racial Harmony?

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The News Beyond The COVID Numbers
Nam Y. Huh/AP

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The News Beyond The COVID Numbers

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, numbers have been flying at us about the spread of the illness—and then the next minute those same numbers are refuted. This week, we're talking to Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic about why the data is so all over the place, and why that matters, especially for people of color.

The News Beyond The COVID Numbers

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Black Like Who?
Bee Harris for NPR

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Black Like Who?

It's one of the thorniest questions in any theoretical plan for reparations for black people: Who should get them? On this episode, we dig into some ideas about which black people should and shouldn't receive a payout — which one expert estimates would cost at least $10 trillion.

Black Like Who?

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A Treacherous Choice And A Treaty Right
Weshoyot Alvitre for NPR

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A Treacherous Choice And A Treaty Right

The Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation told his people to stay strong during this pandemic, and to remember how much they've endured over a long history that includes the Trail of Tears. This episode takes a look at the treaty, signed almost 200 years ago, that caused that suffering, and how it's being used now as a call to action.

A Treacherous Choice And A Treaty Right

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Who Counts In 2020?
Chelsea Beck/NPR

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Who Counts In 2020?

Right now, the U.S. Census Bureau is trying to count every single person living in the country. It's a complex undertaking with enormous stakes. But some people are very afraid of how that information will be used by the government — especially given how it's been misused in the past. The first in our series about who counts in 2020.

Who Counts In 2020?

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Sex, Friendship And Aging: 'It's Not All Downhill From Here'
Matthew Jordan Smith/Courtesy of Penguin Random House

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Sex, Friendship And Aging: 'It's Not All Downhill From Here'

This week, senior correspondent Karen Grigsby Bates talks with the best-selling author Terry McMillan, famous for her novels Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. The two longtime friends chat about McMillan's latest novel, It's Not All Downhill From Here, and the topics the book tackles: aging, friendship, race and sex.

Sex, Friendship And Aging: 'It's Not All Downhill From Here'

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The Unlikely Story Behind Japanese Americans' Campaign For Reparations

People of Japanese descent wait in line for their assigned homes at an internment camp reception center in Manzanar, Calif., the same camp in which John Tateishi was detained as a child. AP hide caption

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AP

Code Switch

The Unlikely Story Behind Japanese Americans' Campaign For Reparations

by Isabella Rosario

In his new book Redress: The Inside Story of the Successful Campaign for Japanese American Reparations, John Tateishi recounts the fight for justice in the wake of World War II internment camps.

The All-Women Mariachi Group That's Lifting Our Spirits
Piero F Giunti/Latino USA

Code Switch

The All-Women Mariachi Group That's Lifting Our Spirits

by , Jeanne Montalvo

With all this pandemic anxiety swirling, we thought you might need some music to take your mind off things. So this week, we've got an episode from our friends over at Latino USA. It's about Flor de Toloache, an all-women mariachi group that's making history by bucking tradition and playing a style of music that's usually performed by men.

The All-Women Mariachi Group That's Lifting Our Spirits

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The Limits Of Empathy
Sara Ariel Wong

Code Switch

The Limits Of Empathy

by , , Sarah Kate Kramer

In matters of race and justice, empathy is often held up as a goal unto itself. But what comes after understanding? In this episode, we're teaming up with Radio Diaries to look at the career of a white writer who put herself in someone else's skin — by disguising herself as a black woman — to find out what she learned, and what she couldn't.

The Limits Of Empathy

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When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus
LA Johnson

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When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus

As international health agencies warn that COVID-19 could become a pandemic, fears over the new coronavirus' spread have activated old, racist suspicions toward Asians and Asian Americans. It's part of a longer history in the United States, in which xenophobia has often been camouflaged as a concern for public health and hygiene.

When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus

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The Cruel Story Behind The 'Reverse Freedom Rides'

Lela Mae Williams and seven of her nine children on arrival in Hyannis. Frank C. Curtin/AP hide caption

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Frank C. Curtin/AP

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The Cruel Story Behind The 'Reverse Freedom Rides'

WGBH Radio

Southern segregationists resented the Freedom Riders who came by bus to protest Jim Crow laws. So in 1962, they tricked black Southerners into migrating north and transformed families' lives forever.

The Cruel Story Behind The 'Reverse Freedom Rides'

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