Code Switch

Code Switch

Code Switch

CATEGORY: Society & Culture
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
  1. June 21, 2023
    33 min
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    Honoring My Enslaved Ancestors, Part One
    Code Switch co-host B.A. Parker digs into what it means to maintain the legacy of her ancestors. In part one of two episodes, Parker goes to a symposium for descendants of slavery and meets people who, like her…
  2. June 14, 2023
    38 min
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    Going to a white church in a Black body
    How do you participate in a faith practice that has a rough track record with racism? That's what our play-cousin J.C. Howard gets into on this week's episode of Code Switch. He talks to us about Black Christia…
  3. June 07, 2023
    30 min
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    Spilling the "T" with comedian D'Lo
    On this week's Code Switch, producer Kumari Devarajan finds her demographic clone in actor and comedian D'Lo. Kumari found that when you share so much in common with a stranger who is putting their business on…
  4. May 31, 2023
    30 min
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    Exclusion, resilience and the Chinese American experience on 'Mott Street'
    Ava Chin's family has been in the U.S. for generations — but Ava was disheartened to learn that so much of what they had experienced was totally absent from American history books. So she embarked on a journey…
  5. May 24, 2023
    34 min
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    Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming
    One of the most pivotal moments in Japanese American history was when the U.S. government uprooted more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry and forced them into incarceration camps. But there is another,…
  6. May 17, 2023
    32 min
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    The implications of the case against ICWA
    The Supreme Court is about to decide on a case arguing that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) discriminates against white foster parents. Journalist Rebecca Nagle explains how this decision could reverse cent…
  7. May 10, 2023
    30 min
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    Naomi Jackson talks 'losing and finding my mind'
    "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 reads from that essay about her experience with mental illness, including…
  8. May 03, 2023
    45 min
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    K-Pop's Surprising B(l)ackstory
    K-pop disrupted pop culture in South Korea in the early 1990s, and later found fans around the world. Vivian Yoon was one of those fans, growing up thousands of miles away in Koreatown, Los Angeles. This week,…
  9. April 26, 2023
    28 min
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    The Fallout of a Callout
    In 2017, comedian Hari Kondabolu called out Hollywood's portrayals of South Asians with his documentary The Problem With Apu. The film was also a criticism of comedian Hank Azaria, who is white, for voicing the…
  10. April 19, 2023
    35 min
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    Self-Care Laid Bare
    "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 actually can you do? On this episode,…
  11. April 12, 2023
    30 min
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    W2s and WTFs
    You finally get through the confusing, stressful work of doing your taxes only to hear back from the IRS: you're being audited. And it turns out that your race plays a big role in whether you get that letter, h…
  12. April 05, 2023
    34 min
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    Women in hip-hop push back against the male gaze
    The male gaze objectifies, consumes and shames people for not fitting into a mold. This week, we're looking at how that affects women in hip-hop. Our play cousins at Louder Than A Riot bring us the voices of ar…
  13. March 29, 2023
    38 min
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    The Tricky Obligations of Utang Na Loob
    Utang na loob is the Filipino concept of an eternal debt to others, be it family or friends, who do a favor for you. In this episode from 2022, we break down this "debt of the inner soul" — and discover a surpr…
  14. March 22, 2023
    35 min
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    The Women Behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott
    We've all heard about Rosa Parks and her crucial role in the Montgomery bus boycott. But Parks was just one of the many women who organized for years to make that boycott a reality. In this episode, the women b…
  15. March 15, 2023
    33 min
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    Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color
    Host B.A. Parker talks to Jasmin Savoy Brown, of the recently-released Scream 6, about playing a queer Black girl who lives. And film critics Richard Newby and Mallory Yu discuss how horror movies can actually…
  16. March 08, 2023
    32 min
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    The Women Who Influence How America Eats
    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 mor…
  17. March 01, 2023
    29 min
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    This Racism Is Killing Me Inside
    This week, we revisit an episode from 2018 that looks into how discrimination not only degrades your health, but can cost you your life. We hear the story of Shalon Irving, who died after giving birth to her da…
  18. February 22, 2023
    35 min
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    Black History's Family Tree
    Brett Woodson Bailey is a living relative of "the father of Black History," Carter G. Woodson. He has found support from the descendant of the people who enslaved his family.
  19. February 15, 2023
    43 min
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    The Merengue War
    From the dance floors of weddings and bar mitzvahs to the Billboard Hot 100, chances are, you've enjoyed some merengue music – think about the 1998 Puerto Rican hit 'Suavemente,' which topped charts across the…
  20. February 08, 2023
    35 min
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    Reckoning With The NFL's Rooney Rule
    In this episode, we're looking at the NFL's famous diversity plan and what it might tells us about why so many corporate initiatives like it don't work.

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