Leah Donnella
Leah Donnella is an editor on NPR's Code Switch team, where she helps produce and edit for the Code Switch podcast, blog, and newsletter. She created the "Ask Code Switch" series, where members of the team respond to listener questions about how race, identity, and culture come up in everyday life.
Donnella originally came to NPR in September 2015 as an intern for Code Switch. Prior to that, she was a summer intern at WHYY's Public Media Commons, where she helped teach high school students the ins and outs of journalism and film-making. She spent a lot of time out in the hot Philly sun tracking down unsuspecting tourists for on-the-street interviews. She also worked at the University of Pennsylvania in the department of College Houses and Academic Resources.
Donnella graduated from Pomona College with a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies.
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One in five Black Americans are either immigrants or the children of immigrants. But feeling embraced or understood by the U.S. can seem daunting for some, and impossible for others. -
Being able to drive makes life easier. It can open up job opportunities. But it also has challenges, especially if there's a language barrier. And traffic stops can be especially high stakes.
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What's it like to be a Black immigrant or refugee in America? We had a hundred or so conversations with people in Tennessee — one of the Blackest states in the country — to find out.
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Black immigrants in Tennessee have a slew of bad options when it comes to transportation and getting a license — and are disproportionately likely to face traffic stops that may lead to deportation.
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What do Black immigrants think about their racial identities, especially in the American South? Several Black immigrants living in Tennessee talk about their experiences.
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In his memoir, America Made Me a Black Man, Farah tells of what American blackness has meant to him, from his childhood in Somalia to his adolescence in the Northeast — to his return to Somalia.
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As we look back at the year, we wanted to share some of our favorite episodes of the pod. This list showcases the episodes that stayed with members of the Code Switch team, even amidst all the churn.
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In her new novel, In the Country of Others, Leila Slimani explores what it means to be an outsider. Her characters fight to establish their own identities while their country, Morocco, does the same.
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Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing, says it's a mistake to boil Wednesday's events down to questions of police force. He argues we need a broader conversation about race, politics and justice.
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Our team is looking back at some of our favorite episodes to work on this year, and what made them so meaningful. And oh, what a year it has been.
