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.
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In early August the White House invited an all-white group of historians to talk about threats to American democracy.
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The Jan. 6 Committee has been uncovering what led up to the insurrection. But just beneath the surface is a central cause of the riot — racism and the fear of losing white power.
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The Jan. 6 committee has been uncovering what led up to the insurrection, but lurking beneath the hearings is a sometimes unspoken reason — race and the loss of white power.
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Ten years ago, seven people died when a white supremacist opened fire at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisc. A decade later, hate crimes against South Asians and Sikhs are on the rise.
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It was 10 years ago that a white supremacist opened fire at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek. Seven people died. A decade later, hate crimes against Sikhs and other South Asians are on the rise.
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The symbol of the post-Roe era might not be coat hangers. It may instead be prison bars.
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Now that Roe is overturned, reproductive justice advocates say the U.S. is entering an era of policed pregnancy — women will be vulnerable to arrest and imprisonment for miscarriages or stillbirths.
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Shrinking access to abortion in Republican-controlled states has already hit people of color hardest. They will bear the brunt of the end of Roe v. Wade, experts and advocates say.
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Communities of color have already been hard hit by abortion bans and will continue to bear the brunt if Roe is overturned. Reproductive justice activists say abortion access is a racial justice issue.
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Some South Asians see the caste system as a reality in the United States and others do not. California State University and others have added caste as a protected category against discrimination.