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Code Switch

Author: NPR

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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
453 Episodes
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Many Lakota people agree: It's imperative to revitalize the Lakota language. But how exactly to do that is a matter of broader debate. Should Lakota be codified and standardized to make learning it easier? Or should the language stay as it always has been, defined by many different ways of writing and speaking? We explore this complex, multi-generational fight that's been unfolding in the Lakota Nation, from Standing Rock to Pine Ridge.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
This episode is brought to you by our play cousins over at NPR's It's Been A Minute. Brittany Luse chops it up with New Yorker writer and podcast host Vinson Cunningham to discuss his debut novel Great Expectations. It's a period piece that follows the story of a young man working on an election campaign that echoes Obama's 2008 run. Brittany and Vinson discuss American politics as a sort of religion - and why belief in politics has changed so much in the last decade.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
We've probably said it a hundred times on Code Switch — biological race is not a real thing. So why is race still used to help diagnose certain conditions, like keloids or cystic fibrosis? On this episode, Dr. Andrea Deyrup breaks it down for us, and unpacks the problems she sees with practicing race-based medicine.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Gene Demby and NPR's Huo Jingnan dive into a conspiracy theory about how "global elites" are forcing people to eat bugs. And no huge surprise — the theory's popularity is largely about its loudest proponents' racist fear-mongering.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
In February of 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government issued an executive order to incarcerate people of Japanese descent. That legacy has become a defining story of Japanese American identity. In this episode, B.A. Parker and producer Jess Kung explore how Japanese American musicians across generations turn to that story as aw ay to explore and express identity. Featuring Kishi Bashi, Erin Aoyama and Mary Nomura.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
In the U.S., flavored cigarettes have been banned since 2009, with one glaring exception: menthols. That exception was supposed to go away in 2023, but the Biden administration quietly delayed the ban on menthols. Why? Well, an estimated 85 percent of Black smokers smoke menthols — and some (potentially suspect) polls have indicated that a ban on menthols would chill Biden's support among Black people. Of course, it's more complicated than that. The story of menthol cigarettes is tied up in policing, advertising, influencer-culture, and the weaponization of race and gender studies. Oh, and a real-life Black superhero named Mandrake the Magician.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
To celebrate the history of Black romance, Gene and Parker are joined by reporter Nichole Hill to explore the 1937 equivalent of dating apps — the personals section of one of D.C.'s Black newspapers. Parker attempts to match with a Depression-era bachelor, and along the way we learn about what love meant two generations removed from slavery.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
It's 1969 at the University of Wyoming, where college football is treated like a second religion. But after racist treatment at an away game, 14 Black players decide to take a stand, and are hit with life-changing consequences. From our play cousins across the pond, our own B.A. Parker hosts the BBC World Service's Amazing Sport Stories: The Black 14. Listen to the rest of the series wherever you get your podcasts.*This episode contains lived experiences which involve the use of strong racist language.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
"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 shares her experience with biopolar disorder. She talks about how she's had to decipher what 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
Taylor Swift has become an American icon, (and she's got the awards, sales, and accolades to prove it.) With that status, she's often been celebrated as someone whose music is authentically representing the interior lives of young women and adolescent girls. On this episode, we're asking: Why? What is it about Swift's persona — and her fandom — that feels so deeply connected to girlhood? And, because this is Code Switch, what does all of that have to do with race?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
After leaving the Pentecostal Church, reporter Jess Alvarenga has been searching for a new spiritual home. They take us on their journey to find spirituality that includes the dining room dungeon of a dominatrix, Buddhist monks taking magic mushrooms and the pulpit of a Pentecostal church. This episode is a collaboration with our friends at LAist Studios. Special thanks to the Ferriss, UC Berkeley's Psychedelic Journalism program for their support.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
The New York City Housing Authority is the biggest public housing program in the country. But with limited funding to address billions of dollars of outstanding repairs, NYCHA is turning to a controversial plan to change how public housing operates. Fanta Kaba of WNYC's Radio Rookies brings the story of how this will affect residents and the future of housing, as a resident of a NYCHA complex in the Bronx herself.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
When people think back to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, they often remember just the bullet points: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and voila. But on this episode, we're hearing directly from the many women who organized for months about what exactly it took to make the boycott happen.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Martin Luther King Jr. was relatively unpopular when he was assassinated. But the way Americans of all political stripes invoke his memory today, you'd think he was held up as a hero. In this episode, we talk about the cooptation of King's legacy with Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the People's King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Classrooms in Arkansas were at the center of school desegregation in the 1950s. Now, with the LEARNS Act, they're in the spotlight again. Code Switch comes to you live from Little Rock, Arkansas this week to unpack the latest education bill and how it echoes themes from decades past.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
For decades, the ingredients, dishes and chefs that are popularized have been filtered through the narrow lens of a food and publishing world dominated by mostly white, mostly male decision-makers. But with more food authors of color taking center stage, is that changing? In this episode, we dive deep into food publishing, past and present.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
It's that time of year again, fam, when we look back at the past 12 months and think, "WHOA, HOW'D THAT GO BY SO FAST?" So we're taking a beat: for this week's episode, each one of us who makes Code Switch is getting on the mic to reflect on — and recommend — an episode we loved from 2023.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
The Color Purple remake drops this week and to celebrate, we're bringing you this special episode from our play cousins over at Pop Culture Happy Hour. Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple has been adapted a few times. Next week, the new movie The Color Purple hits theaters – it's based on the Tony-winning musical. The 1985 film is remembered as a fan-favorite centering Black women's lives, but this acclaimed adaptation was received quite differently among female viewers and male viewers. Today, we revisit our episode about the original film from our three-part documentary series Screening Ourselves, which explored films through the lens of representation – and misrepresentation – on screen.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
"You can't meditate yourself out of a 40-hour work week with no childcare and no paid sick days," says Dr. Pooja Lakshmin. But when you're overworked and overwhelmed, what can you do? On this episode, host B.A. Parker asks: What are your options when a bubble bath won't cut it?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
We're bringing you an extra treat this week from our play cousins over at It's Been A Minute: In the credits for 'Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé' the Queen Bee makes it clear who is in charge. Written by? Beyoncé. Directed by? Beyoncé. Produced by? Beyoncé. And of course, starring...Beyoncé. For someone who is so in control of their own image, what is spoken and what is unspoken are equally loud.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Comments (175)

Arpita Sen Gupta

ALL>FUL>MOVIES>LINK👉https://co.fastmovies.org

Feb 24th
Reply

MaPepa

The parallels being made in this episode are wild! Religion and BDSM taking a person to the same place-making them "whole" in the process-speaks very badly about religion. Dominance, control, and flagelation on one part and complete unquestioning submission on the other is abuse. Stockholn Syndrome--not community!

Feb 1st
Reply

Joe A. Finley II

Sorry, but so far Viga (sp.) is making more sense in the 1st two minutes of her speaking, with her opening question, than any amount of dialogue of justification. It IS the religion of the oppressors. The irony is that, if we consider Europeans the oppressors, Western Europeans are moving AWAY from organized religion at a FAR more rapid pace than their counterparts in the USA, especially in the South and Midwest. Stay tuned as I make my way through the remaining 2/3 of the episode...

Dec 20th
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Janet Lafler

This is a small detail, but I just wanted to point out that the disproportionate numbers of Black women in battered women's shelters isn't necessarily an indication of greater rates of abuse in the Black community, but could be an indication of having fewer financial resources. Shelters are crowded and bare-bones, and you're stuck with a bunch of strangers. Women with the resources to stay in a hotel, or to travel to stay with friends or family, won't go to a shelter.

Dec 18th
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Leah

I found Kai’s quote from Jesus to be so profound in her letter of forgiveness. “Christians” so often wield Jesus as a weapon against trans people and Kai has used his beautiful words of forgiveness as a shield. I’m not a Christian and never have been, but I found this to be so striking and wonderful.

Dec 6th
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Catherine Nguyen

Interesting show!

Jul 6th
Reply

Mo U.

I loved hearing this! It really shows that the line between appreciation and appropriation isn't as clear as chronically online teenagers would have us believe. This was truly a beautiful cultural exchange

Jun 28th
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Shinobi411

Great Episode 👍🏽!

Apr 27th
Reply

Cortez Manning

Thank you so for thiz herstory!!! Thiz iz so needed!!!

Mar 24th
Reply

Janet Lafler

I think my discomfort with this story stems from three factors: Forgiveness must be earned. You can't apologize on someone else's behalf unless they authorize you to. An apology can make people feel obligated to forgive. Modern-day apologies for historical wrongs always bother me. I wish they were framed more in terms of acknowledgement of the harms done and a commitment to some sort of action.

Feb 22nd
Reply

it

such important subject!

Jan 4th
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Laura Bogart

Oh I'm actually interested in watching the Interview with the Vampire series now. When the books came out, we were still using lesbian and gay because the Q was considered a slur (and bi was often ignored), but me and my 'gay' friends (we all ID as queer now) were miffed at the gay erasure in the movie.

Dec 22nd
Reply

V J Forsythe

I wish yall had an episode about what it's like to be a multiracial person born of multiracial parents, all of whom identify as Black. Being children of the diaspora, not knowing mixed with what exactly, but you're not dark brown skinned so you are questioned on your identity often. But still, the answer, "I'm Black," never seems to satisfy.

Dec 3rd
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Leah

Great episode!

Oct 26th
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Brian Fields

proctor. if a proctologist is overseeing your exam, you're probably in the wrong room

Aug 17th
Reply

it

awesome! I'll check it out!

Aug 15th
Reply

Steven Maurice

housing segregation is in everything

Jul 6th
Reply

Mo U.

I love this episode so much because I relate so much!

May 14th
Reply

Annice Barber-petroff

I'm sorry we gave Asians resting bitch face? that's nice -_-

Mar 30th
Reply

Vorec6:17

I liked your discussion. your sincere concerns of fatherhood in our times were mine as well, as I raised my kids with their mother and my wife who looks nothing like me in hair, skin or face. I believe children have a beep natural need for true masculine fathers in their life. no need to be toxic to be a man. I did think it strange how much hand ringing you two had over how to teach your children the "correct " kind of Racism. I taught my children to deny racial constructs and the toxic racial labels for themselves and everyone else. the toxic concept of race its self does nothing but separate and alienate us. I certainly don't want that in my family even though some would try to assign different racial identities to us.

Mar 23rd
Reply
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