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Lost In Translation

Left, Emmett Chen-Ran and his mother, Yanfei Ran. Right, siblings Max and Isabella Bloom play together. Courtesy of the Chen-Ran and Bloom families hide caption

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Courtesy of the Chen-Ran and Bloom families

Code Switch

Lost In Translation

by Elena Neale-Sacks , Isabella Bloom ,

Today on the show, we're bringing you the stories of two families grappling with how best to communicate across linguistic differences. In the first story, a young man sorts through how to talk to his parents about gender in Chinese, where the words for "he" and "she" sound exactly the same. Then, we follow a family who was advised to stop speaking their heritage language, Japanese, based on some outdated and incomplete research.

Lost In Translation

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Meet B.A. Parker — our new co-host!

The new voice — and face — of the Code Switch podcast! Courtesy of B.A. Parker hide caption

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Courtesy of B.A. Parker

Opinion

Code Switch

Meet B.A. Parker — our new co-host!

Fam: We finally have a new co-host of the Code Switch podcast! And we're just a *tiny bit* excited. So today on the show, we're introducing you to B.A. Parker. Gene chats with Parker about who she is, what drew her to the race beat, and how her encyclopedic knowledge of Oscars trivia will be an asset to Code Switch listeners.

Meet B.A. Parker — our new co-host!

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Who belongs in the Cherokee Nation?

Marilyn Vann, President of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Association and the African Indians Foundation Courtesy of Marilyn Vann hide caption

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Courtesy of Marilyn Vann

Code Switch

Who belongs in the Cherokee Nation?

In 1866, the Cherokee Nation promised citizenship for Black "freedmen" and their descendants. But more than a century later, the descendants of the freedman are calling foul on that promise being fulfilled. This episode, from our friends at The Experiment podcast (produced by WNYC and the Atlantic) gets into the messy history and fraught present.

Who belongs in the Cherokee Nation?

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Code Switch

School Colors Episode 9: 'Water Under The Bridge'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

Over the course of this season, we've explored a rich history and complicated present, but what about the future? In the final episode, we catch up with parents who became activated on both sides of the debate over the diversity plan. And, since the diversity plan never came to fruition, we ask...what now?

School Colors Episode 9: 'Water Under The Bridge'

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Code Switch's playlist for a summer road trip
Aurélia Durand

Code Switch

Code Switch's playlist for a summer road trip

This week, we're talking about the podcasts that podcasters listen to. These are the shows that members of the Code Switch team cannot tear our ears away from. We think they'd be great for a long car ride, plane ride, or just regular day of vegging out. They get into everything from old people to food to the human body to Oprah. And — surprise, surprise — they all have a whole lot to do with race and identity.

Code Switch's playlist for a summer road trip

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School Colors Bonus: 'Ms. Mitchell's Pandemic Diary'

School Colors Bonus: "Ms. Mitchell's Pandemic Diary" Cassandra Giraldo hide caption

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Cassandra Giraldo

Code Switch

School Colors Bonus: 'Ms. Mitchell's Pandemic Diary'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

Pat Mitchell is the longtime principal of P.S. 48 – an elementary school in Jamaica, Queens. And while she cares deeply about her students and her work, she has struggled with the growing challenges faced by her school community. In this bonus episode, we look at the pandemic through the eyes of one elementary school principal, and how Covid-19 rocked education in the district – especially on the Southside.

School Colors Bonus: 'Ms. Mitchell's Pandemic Diary'

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'Wherever you go, there you are'

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Courtesy of Miguel Macias

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'Wherever you go, there you are'

Many immigrants have described the feeling of being different people in different places. Maybe in one country, you're a little goofy, a little wild. In another, you're more serious — more of a planner. In this episode, which originally aired on Latino USA, Miguel Macias explores how his identity has been shaped by both Spain and the United States, leaving him in a state of limbo.

'Wherever you go, there you are'

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School Colors Episode 8: 'The Only Way Out'

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Code Switch

School Colors Episode 8: 'The Only Way Out'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

When the District 28 diversity planning process came around, many Chinese parents had already been activated a year earlier by the fight to defend the Specialized High School Admissions Test.

School Colors Episode 8: 'The Only Way Out'

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Waiting In No Man's Land
Dion MBD for NPR

Code Switch

Waiting In No Man's Land

Tens of thousands of children were adopted from other countries by parents in the U.S., only to discover as adults a quirk in federal law that meant they had never been guaranteed American citizenship. Much like the Dreamers, these adoptees are now fighting for legal status to ensure they can stay with the only homes and families they've ever known.

Waiting In No Man's Land

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School Colors Episode 7: 'The Sleeping Giant'

School Colors Episode 7: "The Sleeping Giant." LA Johnson hide caption

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LA Johnson

Code Switch

School Colors Episode 7: 'The Sleeping Giant'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Illana Levinson

In some ways, this entire season was prompted by the parents who organized against diversity planning in School District 28. So in this episode, we're going back to that one ugly meeting, where they unleashed their fear and anger into the rest of the community. So who are these parents, what do they believe and why? Moreover, why were they ready to fight so hard against a plan that didn't exist?

School Colors Episode 7: 'The Sleeping Giant'

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On Food, Mattress Sales, and Juneteenth

Beloved Black cookbooks for Juneteenth. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

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LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

On Food, Mattress Sales, and Juneteenth

It's the second year that Juneteenth has been a federal holiday — which means it's getting the full summer holiday treatment: sales on appliances, branded merchandise, and for some, a day off of work. But on this episode, we're talking about the origin of the holiday — and the traditions that keep its history alive for Black folks around the country.

On Food, Mattress Sales, and Juneteenth

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School Colors Episode 6: 'Below Liberty'
LA Johnson

Code Switch

School Colors Episode 6: 'Below Liberty'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

Though a lot of parents and educators agree there needs to be some change in District 28, the question remains: what kind of change? When we asked around, more diversity wasn't necessarily at the top of everybody's list. In fact, from the north and south, we heard a lot of the same kind of thing: "leave our kids where they are and give all the schools what they need."

School Colors Episode 6: 'Below Liberty'

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The impact of COVID-19, a million deaths in

Author Linda Villarosa pictured next to her book, Under the Skin. Nic Villarosa hide caption

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Nic Villarosa

Code Switch

The impact of COVID-19, a million deaths in

A new book by Linda Villarosa looks at how racial bias in healthcare has costs for all Americans. Spoiler: Poverty counts — but not as much as you'd think.

The impact of COVID-19, a million deaths in

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How 'A Strange Loop' fits into Black theater legacies

James Jackson, Jr., L. Morgan Lee, Antwayn Hopper, John-Andrew Morrison and Jason Veasey play the self-lacerating thoughts of Usher (Jaquel Spivey) in A Strange Loop. Teresa Castracane/Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Association with Playwrights Horizons and Page 73 Productions hide caption

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Teresa Castracane/Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Association with Playwrights Horizons and Page 73 Productions

Code Switch

How 'A Strange Loop' fits into Black theater legacies

The musical — which is up for 11 Tony Awards this Sunday — subverts and reimagines decades of Black theater and pop culture.

Spilling the T

Actor and comedian D'Lo performing in his one-man play, "To T or Not to T" Mikel Darling hide caption

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Mikel Darling

Code Switch

Spilling the T

Code Switch's Kumari Devarajan found an unlikely demographic doppelganger in D'Lo, a comedian and playwright whose one-person show about growing up as a queer child of immigrants in the U.S. is reopening on a bigger theater stage. But when you share so much in common with a stranger who is putting their sometimes messy business on front street for the world to see, it can feel like they're also sharing your secrets, too.

Spilling the T

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School Colors Episode 5: 'The Melting Pot'
LA Johnson

Code Switch

School Colors Episode 5: 'The Melting Pot'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

Until recently, School District 28 in Queens, N.Y., was characterized by a white Northside, and a Black Southside. But today, the district, and Queens at large, has become what is considered to be one of the most diverse places on the planet. So how did District 28 go from being defined by this racial binary, to a place where people brag about how diverse it is?

School Colors Episode 5: 'The Melting Pot'

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Rethinking 'safety' in the wake of Uvalde

An officer walks outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images

Code Switch

Rethinking 'safety' in the wake of Uvalde

In the wake of violence and tragedies, people are often left in search of ways to feel safe again. That almost inevitably to conversations about the role of police. On today's episode, we're talking to the author and sociologist Alex Vitale, who argues that many spaces in U.S. society over-rely on the police to prevent problems that are better addressed through other means. Doing so, he says, can prevent us from properly investing in resources and programs that could make the country safer in the long run.

Rethinking 'safety' in the wake of Uvalde

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School Colors Episode 4: 'The Mason-Dixon Line'
LA Johnson

Code Switch

School Colors Episode 4: 'The Mason-Dixon Line'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

So much of the present day conversation about District 28 hinges on the dynamic between the Northside and the Southside. But why were the North and the South wedged into the same school district to begin with? When we asked around, no one seemed to know. What we do know are the consequences.

School Colors Episode 4: 'The Mason-Dixon Line'

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How We Decide Who Is 'Worthy of Welcome'

Author Heba Gowayed next to the cover of her book, Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential. Courtesy of Heba Gowayed hide caption

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Courtesy of Heba Gowayed

Code Switch

How We Decide Who Is 'Worthy of Welcome'

Millions of Syrians have been displaced by ongoing civil war. In her new book, Refuge, Heba Gowayed follows Syrians who have resettled in the U.S., Canada and Germany. She argues that finding their footing in their new homes is less about individual choice and more about governmental systems.

How We Decide Who Is 'Worthy of Welcome'

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School Colors Episode 3: 'The Battle of Forest Hills'
LA Johnson

Code Switch

School Colors Episode 3: 'The Battle of Forest Hills'

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

In the early 1970s, Forest Hills, Queens, became a national symbol of white, middle class resistance to integration. Instead of public schools, this fight was over public housing. A fight that got so intense the press called it "The Battle of Forest Hills." How did a famously liberal neighborhood become a hotbed of reaction and backlash? And how did a small group of angry homeowners change housing policy for the entire country?

School Colors Episode 3: 'The Battle of Forest Hills'

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