Code Switch - podcast cover

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

Thank You, Next

It's Thanksgiving week, and like basically everything else about 2020, this holiday is on track to be...let's call it "different." But while the world has changed in innumerable ways this year, one thing that hasn't changed is that the country is still deeply politically divided. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Nov 25, 202028 min

The White Elephants In The Room

One of the biggest storylines from the 2020 presidential race has ... well, race at the center of it. If you paid attention to the stories about exit polling, you heard a lot of talk about how Latinx and Black voters showed up in bigger numbers this year than back in 2016. But on this week's episode, we also focus on a conversation that's not happening: The one about a group whose support for Donald Trump hasn't wavered. We're talking about the white vote, and in particular, white evangelical vo...

Nov 19, 202037 min

Claim Us If You're Famous

Kamala Harris is the vice president-elect, which marks an impressive list of firsts: woman in the White House; Black woman in the White House, Asian American in the White House; etc. Her Indian heritage has gotten much less attention than her Black identity, and in many ways, it has been complicated by her Black identity. On this episode, we look at what Harris's identities can tell us about dual-minority POCs, South Asian political representation in the U.S., and what it all means at the voting...

Nov 11, 202035 min

We ... Don't Know Anything Yet

Election Day has come and gone, but we're still awhile away from knowing what the outcome will be. But while there's a lot we don't about the results, we do know that this election will tell us a lot about what our electorate looks like. With some help from our friends at NPR's politics podcast, we're looking at what happened, and waiting with bated breath to see what this portends for the future. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Nov 04, 202019 min

An Historic Vote, Among Many

For a lot of reasons, the 2020 election feels historic. But in one important way, it's like so many elections throughout American history: Black and brown voters are being disproportionately prevented from casting their ballots. On this bonus episode, we're revisiting a conversation with Carol Anderson, author of One Person, No Vote, about what voter suppression has looked like throughout history. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Oct 31, 202026 min

The Latinx Vote Comes Of Age

For the first time in election history, Latinos are projected to be the second-largest voting demographic in the country. The reason? Gen Z Latinx voters, many of whom are casting a ballot for the first time in 2020. So we asked a bunch of them: Who do you plan to vote for? What issues do you care about? And what do you want the rest of the country to know about you? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Oct 28, 202028 min

Is Trump Really That Racist?

We know his rhetoric has been described as boundary breaking when it comes to race. But U.S. presidents have been enacting racist policies forever. So as President Trump wraps up his first (and maybe only) term in office, we're asking: In terms of racism, how does he stack up to others when it comes to both words and deeds? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Oct 21, 202035 min

Let's Talk About Kamala Harris

The VP candidate's biography and heritage allow people to project all kinds of ideas onto her, and to see what they want to see. But Kamala Harris's identity is a very important lens into not just her own politics, but also Black politics around crime and punishment more broadly. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Oct 14, 202041 min

Hip-Hop, Mass Incarceration, And A Conspiracy Theory For The Ages

Why are hip-hop and mass incarceration so entangled in the U.S.? That's the question that our play cousins at NPR Music, Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael, set out to answer on their brand new podcast, Louder Than a Riot. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Oct 09, 202059 min

A Treaty Right For Cherokee Representation

On this week's episode of Code Switch, we talk about the relevance of a 200 year old treaty — one that most Americans don't know that much about, but should. It's a treaty that led to the Trail of Tears, but also secured a tenuous promise. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Oct 07, 202026 min

A New Look For The Fashion Industry?

Fall is the time for glossy fashion magazines, full of dazzling looks and the seasons hottest looks. But this year, we noticed something unusual: The covers of a bunch of major magazines fashion magazines featured Black folks. So we called up fashion critic Robin Givhan to talk about fashion's racial reckoning...and how long before it goes out of style. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Oct 03, 202019 min

Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?

Suffice it to say, we use the term "POC" a lot on Code Switch. But critiques of the initialism — and the popularization of the term "BIPOC" — caused us to ask: Should we retire POC? Or is there use in it yet? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Sep 30, 202037 min

Battle Of The Books

The Code Switch team has been mired in a months-long debate that we're attempting to settle once and for all: What kind of books are best to read during this pandemic? Books that connect you to our current reality? Or ones that help you escape it? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Sep 23, 202037 min

The Protests Heard 'Round The World

How did a police killing in Minneapolis lead people thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to pull down the statue of a slave trader who's been dead for nearly three centuries? On this episode, we're going to the city of Bristol to tell the surprising story. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Sep 16, 202036 min

The Kids Are All Right

Adults often find it really hard to talk about race. But kids? Maybe not so much. NPR received more than 2,000 entries in this year's Student Podcast Challenge, and we heard from young people all over the country about how they're thinking about race and identity in these trying times. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Sep 09, 202033 min

Balls And Strikes

Matilda Crawford. Sallie Bell. Carrie Jones. Dora Jones. Orphelia Turner. Sarah A. Collier. In 1881, these six Black women brought the city of Atlanta to a complete standstill by going on strike. The strategies they used in their fight for better working conditions have implications for future generations of organizers — and resonances with the professional sports strikes happening today. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Sep 02, 202033 min

The United States' Pre-Existing Conditions

How was the the richest and most powerful country in the world laid low by a virus only nanometers in size? Ed Yong, a science reporter for The Atlantic , says it's the inequities that have been with us for generations that made our body politic such opportunistic targets. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Aug 26, 202024 min

Keep Your Friends Closer

As part of our Ask Code Switch series, we're tackling your toughest questions about race and friendship. We help our listeners understand how race and and its evil play cousin, racism, affect how we make friends, keep friends, and deal with friend breakups. And we're doing it with help from WNYC's Death, Sex & Money podcast. Be a pal and listen. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Aug 19, 202049 min

Kamala, Joe, And The Fissures In The Base

Black voters are the Democrats' most reliable and influential voting bloc. But this election has underscored the tensions between those Black voters, along generational and ideological lines — which could have major consequences on turnout this fall. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Aug 12, 202043 min

Bonus Episode: Katrina, 15 Years Later

It's hurricane season, so this week, we're bringing you a bonus episode, from the Atlantic 's Floodlines podcast. On this episode, "Through the Looking Glass," host Vann R. Newkirk II looks at the way the media distorted what was happening in New Orleans in the days after the storm, scapegoating Black people for the devastation they were subjected to. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Aug 08, 202029 min

The Long, Bloody Strike For Ethnic Studies

The largest public university system in the country, the Cal State system, just announced a new graduation requirement: students must take an ethnic studies or social justice course. But ethnic studies might not even exist if it weren't for some students at a small commuter college in San Francisco. Fifty years ago, they went on strike — and while their bloody, bitter standoff has been largely forgotten, it forever changed higher education in the United States. Learn more about sponsor message c...

Aug 05, 202037 min

One Korean American's Reckoning

At a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, a young Korean American man named Edmond Hong decided to grab a megaphone. Addressing other Asian Americans in the crowd, he described the need to stop being quiet and complacent in the fight against racism. On this episode, we talk to Edmond about why he decided to speak out. And we check in with a historian about why so many people mistakenly believe that Asian Americans aren't political. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.c...

Jul 29, 202025 min

Un-HolyLand? An Arab Muslim Reckoning With Racism

After his daughter's racist and anti-LGBTQ social media posts became public, an Arab-Muslim entrepreneur is fighting to keep his once-burgeoning business alive in the middle of a national — and personal — reckoning with anti-blackness. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jul 22, 202042 min

Remembering The 'Divine Diahann Carroll'

On what would have been Diahann Carroll's 85th birthday, we're celebrating the legacy of the actress, model and singer. Reporter Sonari Glinton went to her estate sale and took a tour of some of the objects that represent important moments in Ms. Carroll's life. And because Diahann Carroll achieved so many firsts, the exhibit was more like a civil rights exhibit than an auction. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jul 17, 202017 min

What's In A 'Karen'?

"Karen" has become cultural shorthand for a white woman who wields her race as a cudgel. And look, we all love to hate a good Karen. But where did this archetype come from? What will the next iteration of Karen be? And what are we missing by focusing on the Karens of the world? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jul 15, 202023 min

An Immune System

While it's technically possible to win a civil lawsuit against police officers for wrongdoing, there's a reason it almost never happens: a legal technicality called qualified immunity. On this episode, we look at how a law meant to protect Black people from racist violence gave way to a legal doctrine that many people see as the biggest obstacle to police reform. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jul 08, 202020 min

We Aren't Who We Think We Are

Every family has a myth about who they are and where they came from. And there are a lot of reasons people tell these stories. Sometimes it's to make your family seem like they were part of an important historical event. Other times, it's to hide something that is too painful to talk about. That last point can be especially true for African American families. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jul 01, 202041 min

They Don't Say Our Names Enough

This year, Pride Month intersects with a surge of protests against racism and police brutality. So this week, courtesy of The Nod podcast, we're looking back at the life of Storme DeLarverie — a Black butch woman who didn't pull any punches when it came to protecting her community from violence. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jun 27, 202029 min

Author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio Talks 'The Undocumented Americans'

In her new book, The Undocumented Americans , Karla Cornejo Villavicencio writes about delivery men, housekeepers, and day laborers — the undocumented immigrants who are often ignored while the media focuses its attention on Dreamers. "I wanted to learn about them as the weirdos we all are outside of our jobs," she writes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jun 24, 202023 min

DACA Decision: Check-In with Miriam Gonzalez

When the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that DACA could remain in place, recipient Miriam Gonzalez was relieved. As a plaintiff in the case, she's been fighting to keep the program alive since 2017 and we've been following her story. In this bonus episode — an update on Miriam, and why this decision is such a big deal. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...

Jun 19, 202018 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android
Open in Metacast