Gene Demby

Gene Demby appears in the following:

Ask Code Switch: What About Your Friends?

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Your stories about race and friendship brought up a lot of questions. Our friends at NPR's Code Switch podcast have some answers.

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How Identity Has Changed — And Hasn't — Over 40 Years Of 'Morning Edition'

Friday, November 08, 2019

Since our show debuted in 1979, some notions of race and identity have changed dramatically, while in other ways the same painful battles continue.

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This Family Believes They Can Trace Their Ancestry To The U.S.'s First Slave Ship

Friday, August 30, 2019

The first British ship carrying enslaved Africans landed in Virginia in 1619. The Tucker family believes they can trace their ancestry back to that ship — and are fighting to preserve their legacy.

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White Supremacy Has Never Been Fringe

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Just as it did at the end of the 19th century — an era of racist lynchings and massacres — the idea that a less-white populace poses a danger to the United States continues to enjoy wide purchase.

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Mainstream Politics Long Has Traded On Fear Of A Non-White America

Tuesday, August 06, 2019

White nationalism is not limited to the United States' radical, violent fringe groups. There's a long history in mainstream politics of stoking anxiety about America becoming less white.

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Is 'Race Science' Making A Comeback?

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

We talked to Angela Saini, author of the new book Superior: The Return of Race Science, about how race isn't real (but you know ... still is) and how race science crept its way into the 21st century.

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The Mothers Who Fought To Radically Reimagine Welfare

Sunday, June 09, 2019

Black women have long been used as symbols in debates over welfare, but a movement of poor black women who fought to radically redefine aid to the poor as a guaranteed right has been mostly forgotten.

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A Look At Why Victims Of Hate Crimes Often Aren't Believed

Friday, February 22, 2019

An effort to believe victims of hate crimes rose as a counter to a long history of disbelief. Actor Jussie Smollett appears to have taken advantage of the "impulse to believe" for personal benefit.

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Why Blackface Endures

Friday, February 08, 2019

Blackface has been a constant in American culture going all the way back to the country's founding. It's one of those inconvenient facts of U.S. history: a white supremacist cultural building block.

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Why Calls For Racial Dialogue So Rarely Lead To It

Monday, February 04, 2019

Gov. Northam has made a call for racial dialogue after his yearbook photo controversy, but these conversations are hard to have productively.

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Why Calls For Racial Dialogue Rarely Lead To Actual Conversations

Monday, February 04, 2019

Over the weekend, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam called for more conversations about race. But the calls for productive dialogue around race rarely lead to them.

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Why Journalists Are Debating Using 'Racist' To Describe Rep. Steve King's Quotes

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

In the fallout of Rep. Steve King's remarks to The New York Times, journalists have been struggling over whether or not to use the word "racist" to characterize his quote.

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What A Case Of Mistaken Identity Tells Us About Race In America

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Reports that a white shooter killed a 7-year-old black girl led to a national outcry, but in the days since, deputies have charged two black men. Gene Demby spoke about what this incident reveals.

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Does Trump Single Out Women And Minorities In Attacks On The Press Corps?

Friday, November 09, 2018

President Trump's attack on the press intensified this week, including angry comments directed at a number of black female reporters.

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When Boys Can't Be Boys

Friday, November 02, 2018

Black men don't get seen as adults. Black boys don't get treated like kids. Meanwhile, a certain class of men can float in and out of either category as the need arises.

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Does Intent Ever Matter When It Comes To Blackface?

Thursday, October 25, 2018

NBC's Megyn Kelly opened a pandora's box this week when she said she didn't understand why blackface on Halloween is a problem. The issue and the debate around intent seems to resurface every year.

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Code Switch: Transracial Adoptees On Their Racial Identity And Sense Of Self

Saturday, October 13, 2018

NPR's Code Switch podcast looks at race and identity in America. In this episode, NPR's Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby talk about transracial adoption.

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NFL Players Pen Op-Ed Calling For Changes To America's Justice System

Thursday, June 21, 2018

President Trump called on NFL players to suggest names of incarcerated people who they feel have been treated unfairly. A new op-ed from four NFL players calls for the president to issue a blanket pardon for people serving sentences for non-violent drug offenses.

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What The Kanye Controversy Can Teach Us About Black Voters

Friday, May 04, 2018

The reactions to Kanye West's noisy rightward lurch illustrate some important dynamics about black voting behavior and why a country with many black conservatives has so few black Republicans.

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What The Uproar Over Kanye West Might Reveal About Black Voters

Wednesday, May 02, 2018

Gene Demby of NPR's Code Switch says Kanye West's noisy flirtation with the Republican Party illuminates some important dynamics about black voting and partisanship.

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