Code Switch
What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story. Code Switch was named Apple Podcasts' first-ever Show of the Year in 2020.Want to level up your Code Switch game? Try Code Switch Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/codeswitch
Latest episodes
Jul 5, 2023 • 33min
What Happens After A Racist Massacre In Your Neighborhood?
This week, we're sharing the first episode of "Buffalo Extreme," a three-part series from our play cousins at NPR's Embedded. The series follows a Black cheer squad, their moms and their coaches in the year after the racist massacre at the Jefferson Street Tops in Buffalo, New York, just blocks from their gym. NPR hands the mic to the girls and women in that community as they navigate the complicated path to recovery in the year after.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Jun 28, 2023 • 34min
Honoring My Enslaved Ancestors, Part Two
In the second of two episodes, Code Switch co-host B.A. Parker is figuring out what kind of descendant she wants to be. Parker and her mom decide to go back to the plantation where their ancestors were enslaved, because despite the circumstances of slavery, this is where their family began.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Jun 21, 2023 • 34min
Honoring My Enslaved Ancestors, Part One
Code Switch co-host B.A. Parker digs into what it means to maintain the legacy of her ancestors. In part one of two episodes, Parker goes to a symposium for descendants of slavery and meets people who, like her, are caretakers of "culturally significant historical places."Note: A technical error with a previous version of this episode resulted in an audio mix that may have been difficult to listen to. Please check out the new mix!Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Jun 14, 2023 • 38min
Going to a white church in a Black body
How do you participate in a faith practice that has a rough track record with racism? That's what our play-cousin J.C. Howard gets into on this week's episode of Code Switch. He talks to us about Black Christians who, like him for a time, found their spiritual homes in white evangelical churches.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Jun 7, 2023 • 30min
Spilling the "T" with comedian D'Lo
On this week's Code Switch, producer Kumari Devarajan finds her demographic clone in actor and comedian D'Lo. Kumari found that when you share so much in common with a stranger who is putting their business on front street for the world to see, it can feel like they're sharing your secrets, too.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
May 31, 2023 • 30min
Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'
Ava Chin's family has been in the U.S. for generations — but Ava was disheartened to learn that so much of what they had experienced was totally absent from American history books. So she embarked on a journey to learn more about her ancestors, and in doing so, to work toward correcting the historical record for all Americans.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
May 24, 2023 • 35min
Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming
One of the most pivotal moments in Japanese American history was when the U.S. government uprooted more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry and forced them into incarceration camps. But there is another, less-known story about the tens of thousands of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II — and whose lives uprooted in a very different way.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
6 snips
May 17, 2023 • 33min
The implications of the case against ICWA
The Supreme Court is about to decide on a case arguing that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) discriminates against white foster parents. Journalist Rebecca Nagle explains how this decision could reverse centuries of U.S. law protecting the rights of Indigenous nations. "Native kids have been the tip of the spear in attacks on tribal sovereignty for generations."Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
May 10, 2023 • 30min
Naomi Jackson talks 'losing and finding my mind'
"Three springs ago, I lost the better part of my mind," Naomi Jackson wrote in an essay for Harper's Magazine. On this episode, Jackson reads from that essay about her experience with mental illness, including how she has had to decipher which of her fears stem from her illness and which are backed by the history of racism.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
May 3, 2023 • 45min
K-Pop's Surprising B(l)ackstory
K-pop disrupted pop culture in South Korea in the early 1990s, and later found fans around the world. Vivian Yoon was one of those fans, growing up thousands of miles away in Koreatown, Los Angeles. This week, we're sharing an episode of In K-Pop Dreaming, the second season of LAist's California Love podcast. In it, Yoon takes listeners on a journey to learn about the history behind the music that had defined her childhood.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
