Karen Grigsby Bates
Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
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Stop feeling guilty about what you didn't do over the holidays, and take some of these suggestions for reading, watching and listening. You'll feel better, really. -
Sammy Lee, a Korean War veteran and the first American platform diver to win gold in consecutive Olympics, dies of pneumonia at the age of 96.
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Pipeline and prisons and tantrums at Starbucks: these are a few of our favorite stories this week. -
What's popping with race this week? Here are few hardy racial matters to chew on as you head into Thanksgiving week. -
Many experts agree with an appeals court's decision last month that dreadlocks aren't a common racial characteristic. But left undecided: What's a common racial characteristic? -
The actress became famous for her role in TV's Empire, but the road to Cookie wasn't easy. In her new memoir, Around the Way Girl, Henson shares stories of pushing her way to the top. -
In 1948, eight African-American men joined Atlanta's police force. Those pioneer officers — who couldn't drive squad cars or even step foot in headquarters — inspired Thomas Mullen's new novel. -
In Charcoal Joe, Mosley brings his iconic private eye Easy Rawlins into the haze of the late '60s, extending a literary odyssey through the transformation of black Los Angeles. -
Some police shooting victims like Alton Sterling and Philando Castile become national symbols. Their faces are splashed across the media, and their names become hashtags. So why are others forgotten? -
Many African-Americans keep guns for self-defense, dating back to Emancipation. But the shooting in Dallas, and recent killings of black men by police, have raised hard questions for black gun owners.
