Latino USA Folgen

As “In the Heights” hits theaters one year after its original release date, we talk to director Jon M. Chu about why he thinks immigrant narratives deserve to be summer blockbusters. Chu tells us about his youth as a child of Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants, and the role that TV and film played in his family’s sense of belonging. After a successful career directing large budget franchise movies for over a decade, Chu talks about the reckoning that led him to fight for movies like “Crazy Rich Asians” and now, the movie adaptation of “In the Heights.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two Afrolatinx cousins have an intimate conversation about race and Latinidad a year after George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a white cop. Umar Williams, a musician and radio host living in the Twin Cities, discusses with his younger cousin, Alexander Newton, who lives in Washington, D.C. In this episode, they talk about growing up ‘Black is beautiful,’ their Panamanian heritage and how they rediscovered Latinidad.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the United States, the word “cholo” invokes images of gang members, lowriders, and tattoos. But in South America, cholo or “cholito” can either be a term of endearment or a racial slur used against people of indigenous ancestry. How come one word is used to describe two very different groups of people on opposite sides of the world? We take a journey, from the streets of California to the Andes of Peru, to find the roots of an ancient and harmful term that some people are, nonetheless, reclaiming as an element of pride and identity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.