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
May 4, 2022 • 58min
School Colors Episode 1: "There Is No Plan"
In 2019, a school district in Queens N.Y., one of the most diverse places on the planet, is selected to go through the process of creating something unexpected: a diversity plan. Why would the school district need such a plan and why were some parents so adamantly opposed?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
May 2, 2022 • 3min
Coming Soon: Code Switch presents 'School Colors'
Coming soon to the Code Switch feed: School Colors, a limited-run series about how race, class and power shape American cities and schools. Hosts Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman take us to Queens, N.Y. – often touted as the most racially diverse place in the world. In 2019, a Queens school district announced that they were chosen to get a "diversity plan." One reaction from local parents? Outrage.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Apr 27, 2022 • 51min
The LA Uprising, a generation later
Some call it a riot. Some call it an uprising. Many Korean Americans simply call it "Sai-i-gu" (literally, 4-2-9.) But no matter what you call it, it's clear to many that April 29, 1992 made a fundamental mark on the city of Los Angeles. Now, 30 years later, we're talking to Steph Cha and John Cho — two authors whose books both center around that fateful time.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Apr 20, 2022 • 26min
Race, queerness, and superpowers in 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'
How can anything be more important than what's happening right now? That's the question a woman named Evelyn Wang is pondering right before she is thrust into a surreal, sci-fi multiverse, in the movie "Everything Everywhere All At Once." On the other side — googly eyes, talking rocks, people with hot dog hands — and an exploration of the dynamics between three generations in a Chinese immigrant family.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Apr 13, 2022 • 25min
A makeup company gets a facelift
In the 70s and 80s, Fashion Fair was an iconic cosmetics company designed to create makeup for Black women of all shades. This is the story of that company's meteoric rise, its slow decline, and the two women who think they can resurrect it once more.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Apr 6, 2022 • 36min
A New Movement on Standing Rock
What do you do when all your options for school kind of suck? That was the question some folks on the Standing Rock Reservation found themselves asking a couple of years ago. Young people were being harassed in public schools, and adults were worried that their kids weren't learning important tenets of Lakota culture. So finally, a group of educators and parents decided to start a brand new school, unlike any others in the region.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Mar 30, 2022 • 43min
The dance that made its way from Harlem to Sweden
Lindy Hop is a dance that was born in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s — created and performed by African Americans in segregated clubs and dance halls. But today, one of the world's most vibrant Lindy Hop communities is in Sweden. So what happens when a Black American wants to learn the art form that she first encountered at the hands of her great-grandmother?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Mar 23, 2022 • 37min
Why the N-word is so toxic
It is probably the most radioactive word in the English language. At the same time, the N-word is kind of everywhere: books, movies, music, comedy (not to mention the mouths of people who use it frequently, whether as a slur or a term of endearment.) So on this episode, we're talking about what makes the word unique — and how the rules about its use line up with other words.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Mar 16, 2022 • 32min
Screams and Silence
This week marks the one year anniversary of a deadly shooting spree in Atlanta, where eight people were killed. Six of those people were Asian American. That violence came after Asian American organizers had been trying, for months, to sound the alarm over a dramatic spike in reports of anti-Asian racism.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Mar 9, 2022 • 28min
What's In A Dad?
Gene Demby and comedian Hari Kondabolu are both new fathers, and they're both learning to raise kids who will have very different identities and upbringings than their own. It's left both of them reflecting on some big questions: How will they teach their children about race? What are the elements of their childhoods that they want to pass on? And what, exactly, is a father anyway?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
