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Race. In your face.
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The Utang Clan
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The Utang Clan

Utang na loob is the Filipino concept of an eternal debt to others, be it family or friends, who do a favor for you. It goes back to pre-colonial times in the Philippines, and can pass from one generation to another. And some Filipino-Americans want to do away with utang all together, especially when it butts up against "American" values of independence and self-reliance. On this week's episode, we break down this "debt of the inner soul" — and discover a surprising side to this value.

The Utang Clan

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How Queens became segregated: Welcome to the southside
Photo by Cassandra Giraldo for NPR

Code Switch

How Queens became segregated: Welcome to the southside

by , , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson , Soraya Shockley

School District 28 in Queens, N.Y., has a Northside and a Southside. To put it simply, the Southside is Black and the farther north you go, the fewer Black people you see. But it wasn't always like this. Once the home to two revolutionary experiments in integrated housing, the Southside of the district served as a beacon of interracial cooperation. So what happened between then and now?

How Queens became segregated: Welcome to the southside

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Why a 'diverse' school district erupted in chaos when chosen for a diversity plan
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Why a 'diverse' school district erupted in chaos when chosen for a diversity plan

by , , Soraya Shockley , Carly Rubin , Ilana Levinson

In 2019, a school district in Queens N.Y., one of the most diverse places on the planet, is selected to go through the process of creating something unexpected: a diversity plan. Why would the school district need such a plan and why were some parents so adamantly opposed?

Why a 'diverse' school district erupted in chaos when chosen for a diversity plan

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Coming Soon: Code Switch presents 'School Colors'
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Code Switch

Coming Soon: Code Switch presents 'School Colors'

Coming soon to the Code Switch feed: School Colors, a limited-run series about how race, class and power shape American cities and schools. Hosts Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman take us to Queens, N.Y. – often touted as the most racially diverse place in the world. In 2019, a Queens school district announced that they were chosen to get a "diversity plan." One reaction from local parents? Outrage.

Coming Soon: Code Switch presents 'School Colors'

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The LA Uprising, a generation later

Authors John Cho (left) and Steph Cha (right.) Courtesy of Steph Cha and John Cho hide caption

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Courtesy of Steph Cha and John Cho

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The LA Uprising, a generation later

Some call it a riot. Some call it an uprising. Many Korean Americans simply call it "Sai-i-gu" (literally, 4-2-9.) But no matter what you call it, it's clear to many that April 29, 1992 made a fundamental mark on the city of Los Angeles. Now, 30 years later, we're talking to Steph Cha and John Cho — two authors whose books both center around that fateful time.

The LA Uprising, a generation later

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Race, queerness, and superpowers in 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'

Michelle Yeoh stars as a woman who suddenly develops the power to leap between parallel universes in the action-adventure-fantasy Everything Everywhere All at Once. A24 hide caption

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Code Switch

Race, queerness, and superpowers in 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'

How can anything be more important than what's happening right now? That's the question a woman named Evelyn Wang is pondering right before she is thrust into a surreal, sci-fi multiverse, in the movie "Everything Everywhere All At Once." On the other side — googly eyes, talking rocks, people with hot dog hands — and an exploration of the dynamics between three generations in a Chinese immigrant family.

Race, queerness, and superpowers in 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'

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A makeup company gets a facelift
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A makeup company gets a facelift

In the 70s and 80s, Fashion Fair was an iconic cosmetics company designed to create makeup for Black women of all shades. This is the story of that company's meteoric rise, its slow decline, and the two women who think they can resurrect it once more.

A makeup company gets a facelift

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A New Movement on Standing Rock
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A New Movement on Standing Rock

What do you do when all your options for school kind of suck? That was the question some folks on the Standing Rock Reservation found themselves asking a couple of years ago. Young people were being harassed in public schools, and adults were worried that their kids weren't learning important tenets of Lakota culture. So finally, a group of educators and parents decided to start a brand new school, unlike any others in the region.

A New Movement on Standing Rock

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The dance that made its way from Harlem to Sweden

LaTasha Barnes is a tradition-bearer of Black social dances, including the Lindy Hop. Cassidy Araiza for NPR hide caption

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Cassidy Araiza for NPR

Code Switch

The dance that made its way from Harlem to Sweden

Lindy Hop is a dance that was born in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s — created and performed by African Americans in segregated clubs and dance halls. But today, one of the world's most vibrant Lindy Hop communities is in Sweden. So what happens when a Black American wants to learn the art form that she first encountered at the hands of her great-grandmother?

The dance that made its way from Harlem to Sweden

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Wherefore art thou, N-word?
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Wherefore art thou, N-word?

It is probably the most radioactive word in the English language. At the same time, the N-word is kind of everywhere: books, movies, music, comedy (not to mention the mouths of people who use it frequently, whether as a slur or a term of endearment.) So on this episode, we're talking about what makes the word unique — and how the rules about its use line up with other words.

Wherefore art thou, N-word?

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Unlearning anti-Blackness in therapy: 'The Buck Stops Here'
Islenia Milien for NPR

Code Switch

Unlearning anti-Blackness in therapy: 'The Buck Stops Here'

by Isabeth Mendoza

Twenty percent of American adults sought out therapy in 2020. But Grisell Valencia faced a challenge; she wanted a therapist who could respond to experiences she was dealing with as an Afro-Latina.

Unlearning anti-Blackness in therapy: 'The Buck Stops Here'

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Screams and Silence, Revisited

Anti Asian-American hate has been on the rise, but is nothing new to the people who experience it. Hokyoung Kim for NPR hide caption

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Hokyoung Kim for NPR

Code Switch

Screams and Silence, Revisited

This week marks the one year anniversary of a deadly shooting spree in Atlanta, where eight people were killed. Six of those people were Asian American. That violence came after Asian American organizers had been trying, for months, to sound the alarm over a dramatic spike in reports of anti-Asian racism.

Screams and Silence, Revisited

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What's In A Dad?

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Courtesy of Hari Kondabolu

Code Switch

What's In A Dad?

Gene Demby and comedian Hari Kondabolu are both new fathers, and they're both learning to raise kids who will have very different identities and upbringings than their own. It's left both of them reflecting on some big questions: How will they teach their children about race? What are the elements of their childhoods that they want to pass on? And what, exactly, is a father anyway?

What's In A Dad?

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Ice Breaker
Blind Landing

Code Switch

Ice Breaker

Figure skating has always been about flair and drama. But what happens on the ice is nothing compared to what goes on behind the scenes. This week, with the help of our friends at the Blind Landing podcast, we're telling the story of Mabel Fairbanks. Fairbanks was a Black and Seminole figure skater who spent her career training figure skaters of color — while navigating the complicated racial and social dynamics that characterized the sport.

Ice Breaker

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The rise and fall of 'America's Dad'
Michelle Rohn for NPR

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Code Switch

The rise and fall of 'America's Dad'

At the height of his career, Bill Cosby was one of the most famous men in the United States. He was the biggest and highest paid star in the country, and with his image plastered on billboards, advertisements and television, many people felt like they knew him. Of course, few people really knew Bill Cosby. And many of the people who had seen who he was up close would be traumatized for the rest of their lives.

The rise and fall of 'America's Dad'

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Can therapy solve racism?

Can therapy erase racism? What are the limits of how it can be used to combat anti-Blackness? Islenia Milien for NPR hide caption

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Islenia Milien for NPR

The Code Switch Podcast

Can therapy solve racism?

by Isabeth Mendoza , ,

In 2020, nearly 20% of Americans turned to therapy. Many of those people were looking for a space to process some of the big, painful events they were living through, including the pandemic, a contentious election cycle, and of course, the summer's racial reckoning. But that had us wondering: What exactly can therapy accomplish? Can it mitigate the effects of racism? Help us undo how we internalize racial trauma? Today, we're sharing the stories of two Latinx people who tried to use therapy as a means to understand and combat anti-Blackness in their own lives.

Can therapy solve racism?

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What internet outrage reveals about race and TikTok's algorithm

West Elm Caleb went from a local Hinge player to dating supervillain, the target of a massive, righteous internet investigation. An audience of millions helped uncover and blow up his personal information. Nicole Xu for NPR hide caption

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Nicole Xu for NPR

Code Switch

What internet outrage reveals about race and TikTok's algorithm

While it's good that many called out the overstep in reaction, it also made us think about the ways that these outrage cycles happen, and often get ignored, when people of color are involved.

Humor, poetry and romance on Code Switch Live

Clockwise from top left: Paul Tran, Ayesha Roscoe, Hari Kondabolu and Denice Frohman. NPR hide caption

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Humor, poetry and romance on Code Switch Live

by , Denice Frohman ,

Live from your computer screens, it's Code Switch! Guest hosts Ayesha Rascoe and Denice Frohman joined us to talk poetry and humor with special guests Paul Tran and Hari Kondabolu. Then, Ayesha and Denice answered your questions about race and love.

Humor, poetry and romance on Code Switch Live

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Bonus Episode: Consider the Lobstermen

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Code Switch

Bonus Episode: Consider the Lobstermen

In Canada, tensions between indigenous fishermen and commercial fishermen have been simmering for decades. On today's bonus episode, from our friends at NPR's Planet Money team, we travel to Nova Scotia to figure out how a group of Mi'kmaw fishermen asserted their rights to fish and what happened when commercial lobsterman struck back hard.

Bonus Episode: Consider the Lobstermen

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