This is Code Switch from MBR, Race and Identity Remixed. I'm Jean Demby.

And I'm Cat Chau.

It's a day Cat, you and I are going to dig into something that we argue about a lot over

our little cubicle wall that separates us. It's something you write about a lot.

Rep sweats.

Yes, Rep sweats.

Alright, so for anyone who doesn't know what that means, you can just break that down

really quickly.

In the media and Jenny Yang, she came up with this idea last year.

It means basically sweating over representation. So you're worried about the way people like

you are portrayed on TV or in the movies.

Because we all know that when you're a person of color in America, you don't show up very

often on the big or small screen.

Things have gotten a lot better in recent years. For some people, and for some groups,

but for the most part, it's always been this really bleak, really desolate landscape

when it comes to people of color in popular media, right?

Yeah, so that means that whenever a show with black or brown characters does finally come

around, there's so much excitement. But there can also be this weird anxiety.

Like, what if the show ends up portraying my community in a way I don't like?

Or what if it's, what if it's just trash? Like I'm thinking of, specifically I'm thinking

of red tails.

A terrible movie that there was all this community pressure, a lot of pressure from a lot of

...