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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

Episodes

Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life

Talking about race can get real heavy, real fast. Listening to music is one way people have been lightening the mood and sorting through their feelings. So this week, we're sharing some of the songs that are giving all of us life during this especially taxing moment. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

May 27, 202023 min

COVID Diaries: Jessica And Sean Apply For A Loan

On March 1, two Los Angeles-based capoeira instructors realized a dream almost 15 years in the making — they opened up their very own gym. Two weeks later, California's stay-at-home order went into effect, and the gym shut its doors. This week, we follow the two of them as they navigate how to keep their dream alive in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

May 20, 202034 min

Ask Code Switch: The Coronavirus Edition

We take on some of your questions about race, the coronavirus and social distancing. The questions are tricky, and as usual on Code Switch, the reality is even trickier. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

May 13, 202026 min

What Does 'Hood Feminism' Mean For A Pandemic?

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated issues that disproportionately affect women. So on this episode, we're talking to Mikki Kendall — author of the new book, Hood Feminism — about what on-the-ground feminism practiced by women of color can teach us that the mainstream feminist movement has forgotten. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

May 06, 202022 min

When Poets Decide Who Counts

All month long, we've been answering versions of one giant question: Who counts in 2020? Well, April is poetry month, so we decided to end our series by asking some of our favorite poets who they think counts — and how all of that has changed in these strange, new times. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 29, 20202 min

Puerto Rico, Island Of Racial Harmony?

Many Puerto Ricans grow up being taught that they're a mixture of three races: black, white and indigenous. But on the U.S. census, a majority of Puerto Ricans choose "white" as their only race. On this episode, we're looking into why that is, and the group of people trying to change it. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 24, 202033 min

The News Beyond The COVID Numbers

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, numbers have been flying at us about the spread of the illness—and then the next minute those same numbers are refuted. This week, we're talking to Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic about why the data is so all over the place, and why that matters, especially for people of color. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 22, 202018 min

Black Like Who?

It's one of the thorniest questions in any theoretical plan for reparations for black people: Who should get them? On this episode, we dig into some ideas about which black people should and shouldn't receive a payout — which one expert estimates would cost at least $10 trillion. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 15, 202035 min

Why The Coronavirus Is Hitting Black Communities Hardest

Many have referred to COVID-19 as a "great equalizer." But the virus has actually exacerbated all sorts of disparities. When it comes to race, black Americans account for a disproportionate number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. In this bonus episode from Slate's "What Next" podcast, reporter Akilah Johnson talks about the many reasons why. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 11, 202025 min

A Treacherous Choice And A Treaty Right

The Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation told his people to stay strong during this pandemic, and to remember how much they've endured over a long history that includes the Trail of Tears. This episode takes a look at the treaty, signed almost 200 years ago, that caused that suffering, and how it's being used now as a call to action. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 08, 202031 min

Mother, Should I Trust The Census Bureau?

Right now, the U.S. Census Bureau is trying to count every single person living in the country. It's a complex undertaking with enormous stakes. But some people are very afraid of how that information will be used by the government — especially given how it's been misused in the past. The first in our series about who counts in 2020. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Apr 01, 202038 min

Code Switch: Race. In Your Face.

Code Switch is a weekly podcast that explores how race intersects with every aspect of our lives. Hosts Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby bring honesty, empathy and nuance to challenging conversations. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Mar 25, 202051 sec

Sex, Friendship And Aging: 'It's Not All Downhill From Here'

This week, senior correspondent Karen Grigsby Bates talks with the best-selling author Terry McMillan, famous for her novels Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. The two longtime friends chat about McMillan's latest novel, It's Not All Downhill From Here , and the topics the book tackles: aging, friendship, race and sex. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 25, 202022 min

The All-Women Mariachi Group That's Lifting Our Spirits

With all this pandemic anxiety swirling, we thought you might need some music to take your mind off things. So this week, we've got an episode from our friends over at Latino USA . It's about Flor de Toloache, an all-women mariachi group that's making history by bucking tradition and playing a style of music that's usually performed by men. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 18, 202017 min

The Limits Of Empathy

In matters of race and justice, empathy is often held up as a goal unto itself. But what comes after understanding? In this episode, we're teaming up with Radio Diaries to look at the career of a white writer who put herself in someone else's skin — by disguising herself as a black woman — to find out what she learned, and what she couldn't. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 11, 202036 min

When Fear Of The Coronavirus Turns Into Racism And Xenophobia

As international health agencies warn that COVID-19 could become a pandemic, fears over the new coronavirus' spread have activated old, racist suspicions toward Asians and Asian Americans. It's part of a longer history in the United States, in which xenophobia has often been camouflaged as a concern for public health and hygiene. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Mar 04, 202025 min

Claude Neal: A Strange And Bitter Crop

Eighty-five years ago, a crowd of several thousand white people gathered in Jackson County, Florida, to participate in the lynching of a man named Claude Neal. The poet L. Lamar Wilson grew up there, but didn't learn about Claude Neal until he was in high school. When he heard the story, he knew he had to do something. Our final story about black resistance this month is about resisting the urge to forget history, even when remembering is incredibly painful. Learn more about sponsor message choi...

Feb 26, 202025 min

Blexodus: The Black Exodus From The GOP

How did the party of the Ku Klux Klan became the party of choice for black voters? And how did the party of Abraham Lincoln become 90 percent white? It's a messy story, exemplified by the doomed friendship between Richard Nixon and his fellow Republican, Jackie Robinson. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Feb 19, 202031 min

Pt. 2: Black Parents Take Control, Teachers Strike Back

This is Part II of the story about the 1968 teachers' strike that happened in New York city after Black and Puerto Rican parents demanded more say over their kids' education. We'll tell you why some people who lived through it remember it as a strike over antisemitism. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Feb 12, 202051 min

Black Parents Take Control, Teachers Strike Back

In 1968, a vicious battle went down between white teachers and black and Puerto Rican parents in a Brooklyn school district. Many say the conflict brought up issues that have yet to be resolved more than fifty years later. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Feb 05, 202058 min

Books For Your Mind, Belly And Soul

Books help teach us about the world, our communities and ourselves. So this week, the Code Switch team is chatting it up with the authors of some of our favorite recent (and not-so-recent) books by and/or about people of color. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 29, 202032 min

Bonus Episode: 'Between Friends' From WNYC

A text message gone wrong. A bachelorette party exclusion. A racist comment during the 2016 debates. When our friends at WNYC's Death, Sex and Money asked about the moments when race became a flashpoint in your friendships, they heard about awkward, funny, and deeply painful moments. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jan 23, 202046 min

Ask Code Switch: What About Your Friends?

We help our listeners understand how race and its evil play cousin, racism, affect our friendships. And we're doing it with help from WNYC's Death, Sex & Money podcast. Be a good friend and listen. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 22, 202049 min

Is The Door To Iran Closed Forever?

In light of all the news coming out of Iran, we're talking with Jason Rezaian — an Iranian-American author and journalist who has experienced Iran's contradictions up close. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 15, 202031 min

Carmen Maria Machado Takes Us 'In The Dream House'

When Carmen Maria Machado started searching for stories about intimate partner violence in queer relationships, there wasn't much out there. But in her new memoir, she says that type of abuse can still be "common as dirt." Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jan 08, 202027 min

Beautiful Lies

So many people's New Year's resolutions are centered around getting in shape, updating their skincare routine, and generally being more attractive. But beauty ideals have a funny way of reinforcing society's ideas of who matters and why. Once you start to unpack them, things get real ugly real quick. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jan 01, 202047 min

The Birth Of A 'New Negro'

Can travel change your identity? It certainly did for one man. Alain Locke, nicknamed the 'Dean of the Harlem Renaissance,' traveled back and forth between Washington, D.C. and Berlin, Germany. In doing so, he was able to completely reimagine what it meant to be black and gay in the 1920s. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Dec 25, 201937 min

Who Shot Ya?

The shootings of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur in the late 1990s are widely thought to be connected, but have never been officially solved. On the latest season of the Slow Burn podcast, Joel Anderson has been examining the rappers' meteoric rises, untimely deaths, and what they illustrate about race, violence, and policing in the United States, then and now. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Dec 18, 201945 min

The Martha's Vineyard migrant flight has echoes of a dark past: Reverse Freedom Rides

Many people have heard of the Freedom Rides of 1961, when civil rights activists rode buses through the South to protest segregation. But most people have never heard of what happened the very next summer, when Southern segregationists decided to strike back. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Dec 11, 201940 min

Death Of A Blood Sport

Later this month, a Congressional ban will make cockfighting illegal in U.S. territories. Animal rights activists argue that the sport is cruel and inhumane. But in Puerto Rico, many people plan to defy the ban. They say cockfighting has been ingrained in the culture for centuries, and that the ban is an attempt to wipe out an integral part of Puerto Rican identity. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Dec 04, 201933 min