In this week's episode, we dive into the traditions and stories that shape Lunar New Year, and why violence and tragedy in the U.S. on the eve of the holiday cuts deep for celebrants. We also visit Monterey Park, California, and talk to its Asian American residents and neighbors about what the "ethnoburb" means to them beyond the shooting on January 21.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Celebrating Lunar New Year In A Time Of Grief

What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story. Code Switch was named Apple Podcasts' first-ever Show of the Year in 2020.

Want to level up your Code Switch game? Try Code Switch Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/codeswitch

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

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

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

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

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

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

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

How Jewish Communities Are Divided Over Support of Israel

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The Rise and Fall of the Panama Canal

With the news of O.J. Simpson's death on Thursday, we're revisiting our reporting from 2016, where we took a look into how Simpson went from being "too famous to be Black," to becoming a stand-in for the way Black people writ-large were mistreated by the U.S. carceral system.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Celebrating Lunar New Year In A Time Of Grief

Download our free app to listen on your phone