While it may seem that “He” and “She” are the only options when it comes to pronouns, the truth is that English has more options then these two gendered identifiers. In fact, the non-gendered singular “they” goes back to Shakespeare and is already common in everyday usage. So why is everyone up getting so upset about people choosing how to identify themselves? Watch the episode to find out.
aired 3/14/18Asian Americans on average very financially successful and there’s a common argument called the “Model Minority” that their financial success is due to a combination of being family oriented, and education focused. But here’s the thing, there’s a lot of Asian Americans are very poor and it wasn’t just plain old hard work that helped other Asian Americans succeed.
aired 3/08/18Whether it’s building a wall or talk about getting out of NAFTA, the realities of Mexican immigration and jobs are very contentious topic. But are Mexicans really taking away jobs from American citizens? Well the answer is a lot more complicated than political slogans may lead you to believe.
aired 3/01/18When we think about people being judged exclusively by the color of their skin, we think “Racism.” But why would black people in Brazil get upset about a black woman winning a beauty contest? Well that’s called colorism and it’s actually pretty common in Latin America and the Latinx community in America. How so? Watch the episode to find out.
aired 2/22/18This past week a group of armed anti-government militiamen took over a national wildlife refuge in Oregon. But when the cops showed up...things got interesting. Because nothing happened! No tanks. No tear gas. No combat gear. And we've yet to hear any major news outlet or tv commentator call these men thugs or terrorists. This is of course in stark contrast to how police and media responded to protests in Ferguson and Baltimore following the deaths of Mike Brown and Freddie Grey. So what's the deal here?
When Christmas comes around you can usually expect to see Santa, his reindeer and helpful elves everywhere. But Dutch Santa doesn’t have elves...he has “Black Pete” or “Zwarte Pete.” Pete first showed up in the 1850 Dutch book “Saint Nicholas and his servant.” The story claims “Black Pete” is black because of the chimney soot, but that doesn’t explain his afro textured hair, or large bright red lips….all familiar racist black caricatures. Today, Black Pete is still a huge tradition in the Netherlands. So what'sthe deal? Why is this racist character still celebrated?
“The Donald” has been bombarded with criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike after his recent comments about Muslims entering the U.S. Many have begun to compare Trump’s positions against “outsiders” to Hitler’s views during WWII. While he certainly isn’t a genocidal mass murderer, he does give off some fascist vibes. What are your thoughts on the issue? Are Hitler comparisons justified, or are they taking it too far?
On Decoded, we’re always trying to explain aspects of inequality in America and across the world. Since society is prettyyyy unequal, we tend to not celebrate the positive steps-forward as often as we criticize the negative steps-back. But this Thanksgiving, let’s talk about some good things that happened this year. Here are 6 Things Franchesca is thankful for in 2015! What are you thankful for?