Sandhya Dirks
Sandhya Dirks is the race and equity reporter at KQED and the lead producer of On Our Watch, a new podcast from NPR and KQED about the shadow world of police discipline. She approaches race and equity not as a beat, but as a fundamental lens for all investigative and explanatory reporting.
Dirks covers policing, housing, social justice movements, and the shifting demographics of cities and suburbs. She's the creator and co-host of the podcast American Suburb, about the transformation of suburbia into the most diverse space in American life. She was the editor for Truth Be Told, an advice show for and by people of color. Her stories about race, space, and belonging were part of KQED's So Well Spoken project, which won RNDTA's Kaleidoscope award, honoring outstanding achievements in the coverage of diversity.
Prior to joining KQED in 2015, Dirks covered the 2012 presidential election from the swing state of Iowa for Iowa Public Radio. At KPBS in San Diego, she broke the story of a sexual harassment scandal that led to the mayor's resignation. She got her start in radio working on documentaries about Oakland that investigated the high drop-out rate in public schools and mistrust between the police and the community. Dirks lives in Oakland and believes all stories are stories about power.
-
A bill in California awaiting the signature of Gov. Gavin Newsom would ban caste discrimination in the state. But the legislation has revealed deep divisions in the South Asian community.
-
A look at the divide among Asian Americans over affirmative action.
-
A two-year FBI investigation into allegations of abusive policing in two Bay Area communities has resulted in charges against ten police officers there.
-
Myths about affirmative action being discriminatory against Asian Americans helped spread a narrative that college admissions meant to increase diversity were actually racist. -
The Kansas City Defender made the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager, go viral. They've drawn attention to missing Black women. But not everyone agrees with their methods. -
The Kansas City Defender, a Black-owned news website, is gaining credibility and attention, especially after its coverage of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager shot after knocking on the wrong door.
-
In December, the University of California, San Francisco apologized for unethical experiments on prisoners half a century ago. It was doctors of color who started demanding change.
-
A task force in California approved recommendations on how the state can apologize to, and compensate, descendants of slavery. The recommendations head to state lawmakers next.
-
For years Black and brown people have complained about racism, corruption and abuse by the Antioch, Calif., police. Now a racist text message scandal implicates almost half of the department. -
What an almost entirely white Republican supermajority in a gerrymandered state acting to expel two young Black democratic politicians reveals about race and democracy.
