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Lori Lizarraga Lori Lizarraga is a co-host of NPR's Code Switch.
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Lori Lizarraga

Wednesday

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 2

B.A. Parker at Somerset Place plantation as a child. Courtesy of B.A. Parker hide caption

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Courtesy of B.A. Parker

Code Switch

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 2

Every summer B.A. Parker returns to Creswell, North Carolina, where her family still has a farm. But she's mostly avoided actually going to the nearby site where her ancestors were enslaved. This week, we revisit the second of two episodes, where Parker and her mom decide to go back to the plantation.

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 2

Listen · 34:19
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Wednesday

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 1

A photo of Somerset Place plantation in North Carolina. B.A. Parker hide caption

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B.A. Parker

Code Switch

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 1

In part one of two episodes, B.A. Parker meets people who, like her, are grappling with how to honor their enslaved ancestors. She asks herself: what kind of descendant does she want to be?

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 1

Listen · 34:08
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Wednesday

How one event in history can ripple through generations of a family
Show art by Christina Chung

Code Switch

How one event in history can ripple through generations of a family

This week we're bringing you the first episode in a new series called Inheriting, created in collaboration with our friends at LAist Studios. In each episode, NPR's Emily Kwong sits down with Asian American and Pacific Islander families and explores how one event in history can ripple through generations.

How one event in history can ripple through generations of a family

Listen · 45:00
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Wednesday

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America
Jackie Lay

Code Switch

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America

Author Mike Curato wrote Flamer as a way to help young queer kids, like he once was, better understand and accept themselves. It was met with immediate praise and accolades — until it wasn't. When the book got caught up in a wave of Texas-based book bans, suddenly the narrative changed. And like so many books that address queer identity, Flamer quickly became a flashpoint in a long, messy culture war that tried to distort the nature of the book.

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America

Listen · 31:06
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Wednesday

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

Author Jules Gill-Peterson poses next to her book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny Headshot by Kadji Amin and book cover design by Angela Lorenzo for Verso hide caption

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Headshot by Kadji Amin and book cover design by Angela Lorenzo for Verso

Code Switch

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

As anti-trans legislation has ramped up, historian Jules Gill-Peterson turns the lens to the past in her book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny. This week, we talk about how panics around trans femininity are shaped by wider forces of colonialism, segregation and class interests.

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

Listen · 36:27
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Wednesday

Should we stop using the word "felon"?

What the reaction to Trump's felony conviction tells us about the word "felon" Jackie Lay hide caption

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Jackie Lay

Analysis

Code Switch

Should we stop using the word "felon"?

This week, we're turning our sights on the word "felon", and looking into what it tells us (and can't tell us) about the 19 million people in the U.S. — like Donald Trump and Hunter Biden — carrying that designation around.

Should we stop using the word "felon"?

Listen · 33:58
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Wednesday

100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

Putting the immigration "crisis" in historical perspective Jackie Lay hide caption

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Jackie Lay

Code Switch

100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

President Biden just issued an executive order that can temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers once a daily threshold of crossings is exceeded. On this episode, we dig into how the political panic surrounding what many are calling an immigration "crisis" at the border, isn't new. And in fact...it's a problem of our own creation.

100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

Listen · 42:32
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Wednesday

White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?

At a march in support of Israel, one woman holds a sign saying, "Christians Stand with Israel." Getty Images hide caption

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Getty Images

Code Switch

White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?

As war continues to rage in the Middle East, attention has been turned to how American Jews, Muslims, and Palestinians relate to the state of Israel. But when we talk about the region, American Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, are often not part of that story. But their political support for Israel is a major driver for U.S. policy — in part because Evangelicals make up an organized, dedicated constituency with the numbers to exert major influence on U.S. politics.

White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?

Listen · 38:17
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Wednesday

Understanding the refugee experience, through a time-traveling British colonizer
NPR

Code Switch

Understanding the refugee experience, through a time-traveling British colonizer

This week Code Switch digs into The Ministry of Time, a new book that author Kailene Bradley describes as a "romance about imperialism." It focuses on real-life Victorian explorer Graham Gore, who died on a doomed Arctic expedition in 1847. But in this novel, time travel is possible and Gore is brought to the 21st century where he's confronted with the fact that everyone he's ever known is dead, that the British Empire has collapsed, and that perhaps he was a colonizer.

Understanding the refugee experience, through a time-traveling British colonizer

Listen · 31:12
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Wednesday

Why the trope of the 'outside agitator' persists

Illustration of a rally where "peaceful protesters" march alongside "violent looters." LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

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LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

Why the trope of the 'outside agitator' persists

As protests continue to rock the campuses of colleges and universities, a familiar set of questions is being raised: Are these protests really being led by students? Or are the real drivers of the civil disobedience outsiders, seizing on an opportunity to wreak chaos and stir up trouble?

Why the trope of the 'outside agitator' persists

Listen · 31:01
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Wednesday

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

Author Daniel A. Olivas poses next to the cover of his recent book, Chicano Frankenstein Author headshot via publisher hide caption

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Author headshot via publisher

Code Switch

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

Daniel Olivas's novel puts a new spin on the age-old Frankenstein story. In this retelling, 12 million "reanimated" people provide a cheap workforce for the United States...and face a very familiar type of bigotry.

In 'Chicano Frankenstein,' the undead are the new underpaid labor force

Listen · 33:59
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Wednesday

Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'

Author Ava Chin poses next to the cover of her recent book, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming Author headshot via Tommy Kha hide caption

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Author headshot via Tommy Kha

Code Switch

Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'

This week on the podcast, we're revisiting a conversation we had with Ava Chin about her book, Mott Street. Through decades of painstaking research, the fifth-generation New Yorker discovered the stories of how her ancestors bore and resisted the weight of the Chinese Exclusion laws in the U.S. – and how the legacy of that history still affects her family today.

Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'

Listen · 31:02
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Wednesday

As American Jews speak out on Israel, some see rifts in their communities
IfNotNow LA

Code Switch

As American Jews speak out on Israel, some see rifts in their communities

In the wake of October 7, and the bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli government, many American Jews have found themselves questioning something that had long felt like a given: that if you were Jewish, you would support Israel, and that was that. But as more Jews speak out against Israel's actions in Gaza, it's exposing deep rifts within Jewish communities – including ones that are threatening to break apart friendships, families, and institutions.

As American Jews speak out on Israel, some see rifts in their communities

Listen · 41:02
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Wednesday

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

Author Cristina Henriquez next to the cover of her new novel, The Great Divide Brian McConkey/Ecco hide caption

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Brian McConkey/Ecco

Code Switch

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal has been dubbed the greatest engineering feat in human history. It's also (perhaps less favorably) been called the greatest liberty mankind has ever taken with Mother Nature. But due to climate change, the Canal is drying up and fewer than half of the ships that used to pass through are now able to do so. So how did we get here? Today on the show, we're talking to Cristina Henriquez, the author of a new novel that explores the making of the Canal. It took 50,000 people from 90 different countries to carve the land in two — and the consequences of that extraordinary, nature-defying act are still echoing through our present.

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

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Wednesday

The long, storied history of solidarity between Black and Irish activists

Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in 1845 to drum up support for abolition. That launched generations of solidarity between Black civil rights and Irish republican activists. Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption

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Jackie Lay/NPR

Code Switch

The long, storied history of solidarity between Black and Irish activists

What's a portrait of Frederick Douglass doing hanging in an Irish-themed pub in Washington, D.C.? To get to the answer, Parker and Gene dive deep into the long history of solidarity and exchange between Black civil rights leaders and Irish republican activists, starting with Frederick Douglass' visit to Ireland in 1845.

The long, storied history of solidarity between Black and Irish activists

Listen · 31:57
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