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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
What Does It Mean To Be Latino? The 'Light-Skinned Privilege' Edition
Maria Garcia and Maria Hinojosa are both Mexican American, both mestiza, and both relatively light-skinned. But Maria Hinojosa strongly identifies as a woman of color, whereas Maria Garcia has stopped doing so. So in this episode, we're asking: How did they arrive at such different places?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
36:1614/07/2021
Égalité, Fraternité, And 'Libertie'
This month on Code Switch, we're talking about books — new and old — that have deepened our understandings of what it means to be free. First up, a conversation with author Kaitlyn Greenidge about her new novel, Libertie, which tells the story of a young woman pushing back against her mother's expectations of what her life should look like.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
23:0007/07/2021
A Good ACT To Follow
Forty years ago this month, the CDC reported on patients with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. for the very first time. In the years since, LGBTQIA+ Americans have been fighting for treatment and recognition of a disease that was understudied, under-reported, and deeply stigmatized. On this episode, our friends at It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders delve into the history of ACT UP — an organization that transformed the way the media, the government, corporations and medical professionals talked about AIDS.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
50:2130/06/2021
'Where We Come From': By Any Other Name
Anyone with a name that isn't super common in the United States will tell you that the simple act of introducing yourself can lead to a whole interrogation: Where are you from? What does your name mean? Help me pronounce it using words I understand! So on this bonus episode from our friends at the "Where We Come From" series, we're getting into what, exactly, is in a name — and what names can tell us about where we've been and where we're going.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
17:1727/06/2021
Ballers, Shot Callers
The Supreme Court just ruled on a case that could change the future of college sports, potentially paving the way for NCAA athletes to be paid. But is paying student athletes a good thing? And how would it affect the already fraught racial dynamics of college sports?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
26:1923/06/2021
A Taste Of Freedom
Juneteenth commemorates the day that enslaved Texans found out — more than two years after Emancipation Day — that they were free. It's also a day known for celebratory meals and red drinks. But as the holiday becomes more widespread, we wondered: Is there a risk that certain people (and corporations) will try to keep the food and lose the history?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
31:5916/06/2021
The Racial Reckoning That Wasn't
In the wake of several high-profile police killings last summer, support for Black Lives Matter skyrocketed among white Americans. Their new concerns about racism pushed books about race to the top of the bestseller lists, while corporations pledged billions of dollars to address injustice. A year later, though, polls show that white support for the movement has not only waned, but is lower than it was before. On this episode, two researchers explain why last year so-called racial reckoning was always shakier than it looked.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
35:4409/06/2021
Where Are You Really From?
If you're a person of color living in the United States, chances are you've been asked more than you care to remember where you're from — no, where you're really from. In her new series "Where We Come From," NPR's Anjuli Sastry lets immigrants of color answer that question broadly, with the space and context it deserves.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
37:3802/06/2021
Tulsa, 100 Years Later
In the spring of 1921, Black residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood neighborhood were attacked by a mob of angry white people. More than 300 people were killed, and thousands were left homeless. Now, 100 years later, Tulsa is still reckoning with what lessons to take from that deadly massacre.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
28:2526/05/2021
The Sum Of Our Parts
People of color have a diverse set of interests, experiences, backgrounds and cultures. And the way we experience race and racism can be really different. So why do we continue to use big umbrella terms like "POC"? And what do we risk if we lose them?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
35:4319/05/2021
The Kid Mero Talks 'What It Means To Be Latino'
We've said it multiple times on the show: Latinos are the second largest demographic in the United States. But...what does that actually mean? Are Latinos a race? Ethnicity? Culture? We try (and fail) to answer some of these questions with Dominican American podcaster and entertainer the Kid Mero.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
31:4612/05/2021
Show Me The Money
Two friends living in Vermont decided to try a radical experiment: They asked White people in their community to give money directly to their Black neighbors — a DIY, hyper-local "reparations" program, of sorts. Our friends at the Invisibilia podcast took a look at how the community reacted, for better and for worse.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
34:3405/05/2021
Live From Philly*: A Code Switch Jawn
OK, so we weren't really in Philly (it's still a pandemic, after all.) But we did talk all things race and Philadelphia with special guests Erika Alexander and Denice Frohman. On the docket for the night: reparations, basketball, poetry and of course, the word "jawn."Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
26:5928/04/2021
A Utopia For Black Capitalism
Floyd McKissick, one of the major leaders of the civil rights movement, had an audacious, lifelong dream. He wanted to build a city — from scratch — that would create economic opportunities for Black people and be sustained by the wealth they created. It was called Soul City. And although it's been largely forgotten, he almost pulled it off.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
31:2921/04/2021
Do The Golden Arches Bend Toward Justice?
Calls for racial justice are met with a lot of different proposals, but one of the loudest and most enduring is to invest in Black businesses. But can "buying Black" actually do anything to mitigate racism? To find out, we're taking a look at the surprising link between Black capitalism and McDonald's.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
30:4014/04/2021
Spit A Verse, Drop Some Knowledge
We've spent the past year trying to analyze, dissect and intellectualize all the ways that our world has changed. But sometimes the best way to understand our circumstances isn't through data and reports — it's through art and poetry. So this week, we're hearing from some of the country's most critical observers: poets.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
24:0307/04/2021
Why Are We Here?
Filipinos make up a small fraction of the nurses in the United States, but almost a third of the nurses who have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. have been of Filipino descent. So what exactly is going on? Our friends over at The Atlantic and WNYC tried to understand more about this troubling statistic by telling the story of one woman: Rosary Castro-Olega.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
33:2631/03/2021
Screams And Silence
Asian American organizers and influencers have been trying to sound the alarm over a dramatic spike in reports of anti-Asian racism over the last year, and have been frustrated by the lack of media and public attention paid to their worries. Then came last week, when a deadly shooting spree in Georgia realized many of their worst fears and thrust the issue into the national spotlight.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
32:4324/03/2021
Lonnie Bunch And The 'Museum Of No'
The Blacksonian — er, the National Museum of African American History and Culture — was years and years in the making. It's closed down because of the coronavirus, but we got a virtual tour from the man who devoted his life to giving it life. He's also the first Black leader of the entire Smithsonian Institution. Baller status.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
31:5317/03/2021
Saving A Language You're Learning To Speak
Every two weeks, a language dies with its last speaker. That was almost the fate of the Hawaiian language — until a group of young people decided to create a strong community of Hawaiian speakers — as they were learning to speak it them themselves.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
33:4210/03/2021
David (Pronounced dah-VEED) Versus Goliath
Summer, 2004. The Olympics in Athens. The event? Men's basketball: U.S. versus Puerto Rico. And the whole world knows that Puerto Rico doesn't stand a chance. After all, the bigger, richer, imperial power always wins — right?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
41:0903/03/2021
'Payback's A B****'
We're ending Black history month where we started it...talking about reparations. On this episode, we're joined by Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow, who have spent the past two years exploring how reparations could transform the United States — and all the struggles and possibilities that go along with that.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
29:2126/02/2021
A Shot In The Dark
As the rollout of coronavirus vaccines unfolds, one big challenge for public health officials has been the skepticism many Black people have toward the vaccine. One notorious medical study — the Tuskegee experiment — has been cited as a reason. But should it be?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
26:1424/02/2021
Becoming 'Black Moses'
Marcus Garvey was an immigrant, a firebrand, a businessman. He was viewed with deep suspicion by the civil rights establishment. He would also become one of the most famous and powerful Black visionaries of the 20th century. Our play-cousins at NPR's Throughline podcast went deep on how he became the towering (and often misunderstood) figure that he is.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
01:03:4217/02/2021
Black Kiss-tory
Too often, Black history is portrayed as a story of struggle and suffering, completely devoid of joy. So we called up some romance novelists whose work focuses on Black history. They told us that no matter how hard the times, there has always been room for love.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
26:5310/02/2021
Who's 'Black Enough' For Reparations?
Black History Month is here, which means we're diving into big, sticky questions about what exactly it means to be Black. So this week on the show: Who is 'Black enough' for reparations? Because you know...we got some bills to pay.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
36:4303/02/2021
Stepping Out Of The Shadow Of 'Killer King'
For decades, residents of Compton and Watts in South Los Angeles had to rely on one particularly troubled hospital for their medical care. A new state-of-the-art hospital replaced it, but faced many of the same challenges: too few beds, too many patients who need serious help, not enough money. Then came the coronavirus.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
19:4127/01/2021
The Last Four Years
The Trump administration is coming to a close, but which elements of the Trump era are here to stay? We spoke to NPR's White House reporter, Ayesha Rascoe, about where we were when Donald Trump took office — and what he's left behind.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
30:1020/01/2021
From The Fringe To The Capitol
Like all of you, we are still trying to make sense of Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Because even after the past four years, there are still new iterations of WTF. So on this episode, we're talking police, "terrorism", and the symbols of white nationalism that made it to the floor of the Capitol.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
31:0313/01/2021
Finding 'A Perfect Match'
Two close friends both suffered from the same aggressive form of cancer. After years of treatment, one lived and the other died. And while many variables factored into what happened, the woman who survived — reporter Ibby Caputo — couldn't help wondering what role race had played in the outcome.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
30:0506/01/2021
The Fire Still Burning
If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that history informs every aspect of our present. So today we're bringing you an episode of NPR's history podcast, Throughline. It gets into some of the most urgent lessons we can learn from James Baldwin, whose life and writing illuminate so much about what it would really mean for the United States to reckon with its race problem.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
46:1030/12/2020
From Generation To Generation
This month on Code Switch, we're thinking a lot about family and history. So we wanted to bring you this special episode from our friends at NPR's It's Been A Minute podcast, where producer Andrea Gutierrez tells the story of how her father was involved in the Chicano Moratorium of 1970 — and what that taught her and her sister about their identities.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
15:5228/12/2020
Family Stories, Family Lies
December is a month when a lot of people are thinking about family and tradition. Reliving memories. Retelling old stories. Each year, those stories get passed down — sometimes with new details, or a different twist. And eventually, many of those stories have nothing to do with what actually happened. This week, we're looking into one such story: the truth, and the lies of it.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
40:2723/12/2020
Black And Up In Arms
Guns. They're as American as apple pie. They represent independence and self-reliance. But ... not so much if you're Black. On this episode, we're getting into the complicated history of Black gun ownership and what it has to tell us about our present moment.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
48:2316/12/2020
The Books That Got Away
Listen, a lot has happened this year, and it's no shock that some things may have slipped under the radar. So our resident book expert, Karen Grigsby Bates, took a virtual trip around the country to talk to independent book store owners about their favorite underappreciated reads of 2020.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
21:0713/12/2020
Stepping Back Inside Carmen Maria Machado's 'Dream House'
It's no secret that Code Switch is a team full of book nerds. So this week, we're revisiting one of our favorite book conversations, with author Carmen Maria Machado. Her genre-defying memoir, In the Dream House, tells the story of how she survived intimate partner violence, despite having few models of how to deal with, or even recognize abusive dynamics in queer relationships.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
35:3309/12/2020
Words Of Advice
Let's face it — we could all use some help right now. So today on the pod, we're looking at a few of our favorite questions about race and identity from our "Ask Code Switch" series. We're getting into food, relationships, money, language, friendship and more, so you know it's about to get a little messy (in the best way.)Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
55:3201/12/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
27:3325/11/2020
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 voters.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
36:3919/11/2020
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 booth.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
35:2611/11/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
19:2604/11/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
25:3831/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
28:0828/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
35:1121/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
40:3114/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
59:0009/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
26:2907/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
19:1203/10/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
37:1730/09/2020
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/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
36:3723/09/2020