For many Americans, it goes without saying that the police help maintain public safety. But many others — especially black Americans — see the police as more of a threat than a protective force.

Once a decade, every household in the United States is required by law to fill out the U.S. census. For many people, most of the questions seem pretty straightforward ... except when it comes to race.

Tomi Adeyemi's new book, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, is fantasy for young adults. But the issues it's dealing with — racism, oppression and war — are very real. And they're not sugarcoated.

Fires are blazing across southeast Australia. Scenes of smoke, sparks and blazing red capture the destruction happening in towns around the country.

Harriet, the biopic of Harriet Tubman is almost a superhero tale. Even her fainting spells — epileptic seizures, in reality — are depicted as a way for her to communicate with God.

"Podunk" is supposed to be bleak and isolated. But there are a few things that people who use the term might not know. For one, it really exists. For another, its history predates the United States.

It's been 400 years since the first enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia. But don't call this month an "anniversary."

It's been 20 years since Destiny's Child released the band's second album, "The Writing's on the Wall."

This week on "Ask Code Switch," we're talking about who gets to define beauty norms — and what it means to push back on them.

President Trump continues his quest to curb illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. One expert says there have always been ebbs and flows to how welcoming the U.S. is to immigrants.

The phrase is meant as a gentle poke at white people who take offense at minor threats to their privilege. "Sometimes it feels good just to make fun of racism and of racists," one humorist says.

Some years the virus would wipe out a tenth of the population, earning New Orleans the nickname "Necropolis." The gruesome disease killed thousands, scapegoated immigrants and upheld white supremacy.

Many people have surmised the mega-star learned her knack for extensive personalization from her country roots. But there's another genre that is perhaps equally responsible for her sound: hip-hop.

A lot has changed in the U.S. over two centuries. One thing that hasn't? How we talk about poor white people.

Our Word Watch series explores the term "white trash." Some people embrace it. But experts say it demeans both the people it's applied to and people of color.

There are lots of misconceptions about dark skin and sunshine. One of the most common? That black people can't get skin cancer.

In a new book, historian Marc Dollinger argues that the conventional wisdom of Jewish and African-American harmony during the civil rights era is flawed. And that the real story has lessons for today.

Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families, still earn less as adults than white boys with similar backgrounds. That's according to a new study from the Equality of Opportunity Project, which looked at U.S. Census data to study the lives of 20 million children.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talked to Mélisande Short-Colomb, whose family was once enslaved by Georgetown University. Now, at 63, Short-Colomb has enrolled as a freshman there.

Stuck in a racial quandary? We got your back.