Racist slurs, naughty words, and how dictionary editors define them

Today on the show, NPR immigration reporter Jasmine Garsd takes us into the dimly lit living rooms of immigrant families — families trying to figure out how to stay safe as they navigate the overwhelming fear of being detained by ICE. These fears have long existed, but for many, they've become stronger and more omnipresent during this Trump administration, with its strong focus on deportation. So parents across the country are finding different ways to exist, protect themselves, and look out for their children.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On October 1, 2025, public radio stations lost all of their federal funding -- and for Black and Native American community stations, the cuts hit hard. Case in point, KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, which was the first Indigenous-led public radio station. They lost 70% of their budget after federal public media cuts, and will be shrinking from 10 full-time staffers, to 4 people. We speak to Esther Green, a Yupik elder, and her co-host Diane McEachern of KYUK's spiritual wellness show, Ikayutet, and station general manager Kristin Hall, about what the future looks like for the station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College has classes on everything from Native American studies to gardening to equine sciences to the Hidatsa language. Like other tribal colleges and universities (aka TCUs), it's a space where students can get their degrees while steeped in Indigenous traditions and learning techniques. But since the start of this presidential administration, funding for these colleges has been precarious, and tribal college administrators have been left scrambling to make sure they can continue with business as usual. So this week on the show, we're diving deep into what makes tribal colleges unique — and what these spaces mean to the students, faculty and staff who work there.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Around 42 million people in the United States get SNAP benefits each month to cover basic needs like eggs, bread, and infant formula. Because of the government shutdown, most of those benefits have lapsed, and despite a judge's ruling that the Trump administration release contingency funds to cover the program, the White House will now only offer partial funding. On this episode, we're revisiting our 2019 reporting on how one woman became the symbol for anti-welfare politicians to turn the public against government programs for the poor.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Fights over free speech have taken up a lot of space in the zeitgeist lately. People on both the left and right claim to be the defenders of free speech, while pointing fingers at the other side for censorship and encroachments. So what is actually going on? This week on the podcast, we explore where the idea of free speech comes from, how the concept has changed meaning in the hands of different people, and why fights over freedom of speech are often actually fights about power. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Zohran Mamdani has become one of the most popular and polarizing politicians in the last year. How did the New York City mayoral candidate go from a relatively unknown Democratic Socialist to becoming the frontrunner in the election for the U.S.'s largest city? In this episode, we unpack how Mamdani has energized unlikely voters and, for some, symbolized a fight for the soul of the Democratic party.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What do conservatives like JD Vance and tech executives like Elon Musk have in common? They, like other pronatalists, want to “save civilization” by having more American babies. But it wasn’t that long ago that some people wanted to save the world by limiting the number of kids being born. This week on the pod, we explore the surprising way eugenics plays a role in these two seemingly opposite fears.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

After midnight on September 30th, helicopters hovered above a large Chicago apartment building, and heavily armored agents rappelled from the choppers onto the roof. What unfolded became a spectacle that swept up both undocumented migrants and U.S. citizens alike. We’re looking at one of the most high-profile and aggressive raids in President Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown —and what it means for other big cities that might be on the business end of operations like it.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

How do we define slurs like the N-word? Whether it’s heated debates about racist or ableist slurs, arguments about gender, or even new kinds of profanity, dictionary editors have been at the center of these fights for a long time. We're joined by Stefan Fatsis, the author of Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, for a deep dive on divisive words and how the word nerds at America's premier dictionary wrestle with what to do with them.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Even since before October 7, 2023, American Jews have found themselves grappling with what it means to speak out against Israel and the rifts in their communities over their political views. And despite a new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the division among Jews in the U.S. about Zionism and anti-Zionism could go on for years to come. In this episode, we revisit our conversations with some people experiencing that division first hand, and we dive deep into the long history of Jewish criticism of Israel with Marjorie Feld, professor of history at Babson College, and author of Threshold of Dissent, A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy