Code Switch: Do we need to stop using the word "felon"?

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🗓️ 6 August 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race, things changed. Her campaign almost immediately started framing the election as: Harris, the former prosecutor - vs. Trump the felon. And that word - "felon" - is one that our friends over at NPR's Code Switch have been thinking a lot about since former President Trump was convicted of 34 counts back in May. In this episode, Code Switch co-hosts B.A. Parker and Gene Demby chop it up with the comedian Arif Shahid, who performs under the name Felonious Munk, to talk about what it means for him to carry this reference to his felony conviction so publicly. Then, Gene talks to Josie Duffy-Rice, a writer who focuses on the criminal justice system, to look at the ways "felon" sticks to people long after their sentences end.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Christian nationalists want to turn America into a theocracy, a government under biblical rule.
0:07.0	If they gain more power, it could mean fewer rights for you.
0:12.0	I'm Heath Drusen and on the new season of Extremely American
0:16.0	I'll take you inside the movement. Listen to Extremely American from Boise State Public
0:21.2	Radio, part of the NPR Network.
0:24.0	Hello, hello, I'm Brittany Loose and you're listening to
0:30.0	It's been a minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race, things changed.
0:51.2	She almost immediately started framing the election as Harris, the former prosecutor,
0:56.1	versus Trump, the felon. And that word felon is one that my friends over at NPR's
1:01.8	code switch have been thinking a lot about since former president is one that my friends over at NPR's Code Switch
1:02.8	have been thinking a lot about since former President Trump
1:05.8	was convicted of 34 counts back in May.
1:09.0	I got so much out of listening to this episode
1:11.8	they put together, and I don't want to spoil any of it so I'm going to turn it over to Jean and Parker.
1:21.0	What's good, y'all? You are listening to Coe Switch. I'm Jean Numbie.
1:26.0	And I'm B.A. Parker. And this week we're revisiting a series we call Wordwatch, where we go deep on a piece of language that is making
1:36.7	our antenna twitch or is really sticking in our teeth and so we figured we should turn our sights to felon.
1:46.0	Felon, felon.
1:47.0	Convicted felon.
1:49.0	A word that seems to be everywhere right now.
1:53.0	Conficted felon.
1:55.0	Convicted felon.
	...

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