Gene Demby

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

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.

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.

Gene Demby on what former NBA Clippers team owner Donald Sterling getting banned for life from the league has to do with Donald Trump and racist housing policy. <br>

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.

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.

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 d…

We’ve probably said it a hundred times on <em>Code Switch — </em>biological race is not a real thing. So why is race still used to help diagnose certain conditions, like keloids or cystic fibrosis? On this episode, Dr. Andrea Deyrup breaks it down for us, and unpacks the problems she sees with practicing race-based medicine.

We’ve probably said it a hundred times on <em>Code Switch — </em>biological race is not a real thing. So why is race still used to help diagnose certain conditions, like keloids or cystic fibrosis? On this episode, Dr. Andrea Deyrup breaks it down for us, and unpacks the problems she sees with practicing race-based medicine.

In the U.S., flavored cigarettes have been banned since 2009, with one glaring exception: menthols. That exception was supposed to go away in 2023, but the Biden administration quietly delayed the ban on menthols. Why? Well, an estimated 85 percent of Black smokers smoke menthols — and some (potentially suspect) polls have indicated that a ban on menthols would chill Biden’s support among Black people. Of course, it’s more complicated than that. The story of menthol cigarettes is tied up in poli…

Martin Luther King Jr. was relatively unpopular when he was assassinated. But the way Americans of all political stripes invoke his memory today, you’d think he was held up as a hero. In this episode, we talk about the cooptation of King’s legacy with Hajar Yazdiha, author of <em>The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement</em>.

Martin Luther King Jr. was relatively unpopular when he was assassinated. But the way Americans of all political stripes invoke his memory today, you’d think he was held up as a hero. In this episode, we talk about the cooptation of King’s legacy with Hajar Yazdiha, author of <em>The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement</em>.

On this week’s <em>Code Switch,</em> we hear from two Palestinian American poets who talk about what it’s like to be Palestinian American in the U.S. Fady Joudah and Tariq Luthun say the way their stories are told — or aren’t told — has contributed to what they see as an erasure of their identities, and often of their humanity.

On this week’s <em>Code Switch,</em> we hear from two Palestinian American poets who talk about what it’s like to be Palestinian American in the U.S. Fady Joudah and Tariq Luthun say the way their stories are told — or aren’t told — has contributed to what they see as an erasure of their identities, and often of their humanity.

Ada Limón is many things: the U.S. Poet Laureate, a recently named MacArthur “Genius,” a Latina, a summer person becoming a fall person. But underneath all those outer identities, she’s still in search for the “original animal at [her] core.”

Ada Limón is many things: the U.S. Poet Laureate, a recently named MacArthur “Genius,” a Latina, a summer person becoming a fall person. But underneath all those outer identities, she’s still in search for the “original animal at [her] core.”

Ada Limón is many things: the U.S. Poet Laureate, a recently named MacArthur “Genius,” a Latina, a summer person becoming a fall person. But underneath all those outer identities, she’s still in search for the “original animal at [her] core.”

Being a new parent is exhausting at the best of times. There are diapers to change, bottles to fill, screaming sobs to quiet down. But beyond all the routine chores that come with parenting, there are the larger social questions of how to raise a kid in a complex, unjust, and ever-changing world.

In the past decade, the problem of mass incarceration has gotten increased attention and thought. But in his new book, <em>Mass Supervision, </em>Vincent Schiraldi argues that in those conversations, people often neglect to think about probation and parole — two of the biggest feeders to the U.S.’s prison population. These systems surveil close to four million Americans, which Schiraldi says is both a huge waste of resources and a massive human rights violation. On this episode, we’re talking to…

In the past decade, the problem of mass incarceration has gotten increased attention and thought. But in his new book, <em>Mass Supervision, </em>Vincent Schiraldi argues that in those conversations, people often neglect to think about probation and parole — two of the biggest feeders to the U.S.’s prison population. These systems surveil close to four million Americans, which Schiraldi says is both a huge waste of resources and a massive human rights violation. On this episode, we’re talking to…