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Let's Talk About Kamala Harris
Photo illustration: LA Johnson/NPR; Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Images

Code Switch

Let's Talk About Kamala Harris

The VP candidate's biography and heritage allow people to project all kinds of ideas onto her, and to see what they want to see. But Kamala Harris's identity is a very important lens into not just her own politics, but also Black politics around crime and punishment more broadly.

Let's Talk About Kamala Harris

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Hip-Hop, Mass Incarceration, And A Conspiracy Theory For The Ages

Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden of NPR's new podcast "Louder Than A Riot" Christian Cody and Joshua Kissi/NPR hide caption

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Christian Cody and Joshua Kissi/NPR

Code Switch

Hip-Hop, Mass Incarceration, And A Conspiracy Theory For The Ages

Why are hip-hop and mass incarceration so entangled in the U.S.? That's the question that our play cousins at NPR Music, Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael, set out to answer on their brand new podcast, Louder Than a Riot.

Hip-Hop, Mass Incarceration, And A Conspiracy Theory For The Ages

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A Treaty Right For Cherokee Representation

The artist's depiction of how the Trail of Tears is related to the Treaty of New Echota. Weshoyot Alvitre for NPR hide caption

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Weshoyot Alvitre for NPR

Code Switch

A Treaty Right For Cherokee Representation

On this week's episode of Code Switch, we talk about the relevance of a 200 year old treaty — one that most Americans don't know that much about, but should. It's a treaty that led to the Trail of Tears, but also secured a tenuous promise.

A Treaty Right For Cherokee Representation

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A New Look For The Fashion Industry?

Code Switch interviews senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan about the uptick in magazine covers featuring black women this September. NPR hide caption

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Code Switch

A New Look For The Fashion Industry?

Fall is the time for glossy fashion magazines, full of dazzling looks and the seasons hottest looks. But this year, we noticed something unusual: The covers of a bunch of major magazines fashion magazines featured Black folks. So we called up fashion critic Robin Givhan to talk about fashion's racial reckoning...and how long before it goes out of style.

A New Look For The Fashion Industry?

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Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?
LA Johnson/NPR

Word Watch

Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?

Suffice it to say, we use the term "POC" a lot on Code Switch. But critiques of the initialism — and the popularization of the term "BIPOC" — caused us to ask: Should we retire POC? Or is there use in it yet?

Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?

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Portrait Of A Parent With Alzheimer's
Alexander Charner/Latino USA

Code Switch

Portrait Of A Parent With Alzheimer's

by Yvonne Latty

Since 2016, journalist Yvonne Latty has been documenting her mother's journey with Alzheimer's. As part of a collaboration with Latino USA and Black Public Media, she brings us this intimate portrait.

Portrait Of A Parent With Alzheimer's

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Battle Of The Books

A collage of the books featured in the episode: Catherine House; Take a Hint, Dani Brown; Real Men Knit; and Mexican Gothic. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

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LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

Battle Of The Books

The Code Switch team has been mired in a months-long debate that we're attempting to settle once and for all: What kind of books are best to read during this pandemic? Books that connect you to our current reality? Or ones that help you escape it?

Battle Of The Books

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The Protests Heard 'Round The World

Protesters throw a statue of slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol harbour, during a Black Lives Matter protest rally, on Sunday, June 7. Ben Birchall/AP hide caption

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Ben Birchall/AP

Code Switch

The Protests Heard 'Round The World

How did a police killing in Minneapolis lead people thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to pull down the statue of a slave trader who's been dead for nearly three centuries? On this episode, we're going to the city of Bristol to tell the surprising story.

The Protests Heard 'Round The World

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The Kids Are All Right

Students behind the Flossy Podcast: Joshua Bovell, Jaheim Birch-Gentles, Brianna Johnson, Jamar Thompson, Ieszan McKinney, and Kamari Murdock in Canarsie, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Not pictured - Isaiah Dupuy.) Kholood Eid for NPR hide caption

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Kholood Eid for NPR

Code Switch

The Kids Are All Right

Adults often find it really hard to talk about race. But kids? Maybe not so much. NPR received more than 2,000 entries in this year's Student Podcast Challenge, and we heard from young people all over the country about how they're thinking about race and identity in these trying times.

The Kids Are All Right

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How Black Women Athletes Paved The Way For The NBA Strike

After the WNBA announcement of the postponed games for the evening, the Washington Mystics each wear white T-shirts with seven bullets on the back protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin police at Feld Entertainment Center on August 26, 2020 in Palmetto, Florida. Julio Aguilar/Getty Images hide caption

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Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

Code Switch

How Black Women Athletes Paved The Way For The NBA Strike

The wildcat strike was unprecedented for the NBA — but the world of professional basketball is no stranger to protesting for Black lives.

Balls And Strikes

The Black Lives Matter logo is seen on an empty court as all NBA playoff games were postponed. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images hide caption

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Code Switch

Balls And Strikes

Matilda Crawford. Sallie Bell. Carrie Jones. Dora Jones. Orphelia Turner. Sarah A. Collier. In 1881, these six Black women brought the city of Atlanta to a complete standstill by going on strike. The strategies they used in their fight for better working conditions have implications for future generations of organizers — and resonances with the professional sports strikes happening today.

Balls And Strikes

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Clinton Melton: A Man Who Was Killed In Mississippi Just 3 Months After Emmett Till

Deloris Melton Gresham in her home in Drew, Miss., holding photographs of her parents Clinton and Beulah Melton. Courtesy of Radio Diaries hide caption

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Courtesy of Radio Diaries

Code Switch

Clinton Melton: A Man Who Was Killed In Mississippi Just 3 Months After Emmett Till

by Nellie Gilles , Joe Richman

The murder of Emmett Till 65 years ago this week became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. Radio Diaries tells a lesser-known story of a Black man killed in a nearby town three months later.

Clinton Melton: A Man Who Was Killed In Mississippi Just 3 Months After Emmett Till

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The United States' Pre-Existing Conditions
Urszula Soltys

Code Switch

The United States' Pre-Existing Conditions

How was the the richest and most powerful country in the world laid low by a virus only nanometers in size? Ed Yong, a science reporter for The Atlantic, says it's the inequities that have been with us for generations that made our body politic such opportunistic targets.

The United States' Pre-Existing Conditions

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Kamala, Joe, And The Fissures In The Base
Therrious Davis for NPR

Code Switch

Kamala, Joe, And The Fissures In The Base

Black voters are the Democrats' most reliable and influential voting bloc. But this election has underscored the tensions between those Black voters, along generational and ideological lines — which could have major consequences on turnout this fall.

Kamala, Joe, And The Fissures In The Base

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