Code Switch

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

Revisiting the fight over the Lakota language as Trump targets "divisive narratives"

April 16, 2025 • 41 mins
As the Trump administration targets the Smithsonian Institute for "divisive narratives" and "improper ideology," it got us thinking about how we preserve our history and everything that builds it, like language. So we're revisiting an episode from last year from the Lakota Nation in South Dakota over language — who preserves it, who has the right to the stories told in it, and who (literally) owns it.

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Why Trump is sending Venezuelans to El Salvador

April 9, 2025 • 37 mins
One of President Trump's main campaign promises was carrying out mass deportations. We look at how the Trump administration is testing the U.S. legal system to make good on its promise, starting with the story of one family trying to find their 18-year-old son after immigration agents showed up at their doorstep.

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What's lost in Trump's DEI ban?

April 2, 2025 • 32 mins
President Trump has put diversity, equity, and inclusion in his crosshairs — but there's no consensus on what DEI even means. Some say that that fuzziness is the point, and that the current anti-DEI push is part of a larger plan to undo the gains made by the Civil Rights Movement.

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With measles on the rise, what we can learn from past epidemics

March 26, 2025 • 29 mins
As the U.S. health system grapples with new outbreaks and the risk of old diseases making a comeback, we're looking to the past to inform how people in marginalized communities can prepare themselves for how the current administration might handle an epidemic. On this episode, a conversation with historian and author Edna Bonhomme, about her latest book A History of the World in Six Plagues.

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What Mahmoud Khalil's arrest means for ... everyone

March 19, 2025 • 36 mins
Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia alum, was detained by ICE for his role in leading pro-Palestinian protests at his former university last year. As Khalil's case has captured the nation's attention, free speech advocates see it as a test of the First Amendment. Meanwhile, the Trump administration argues they have the right to deport Khalil without charging him with a crime. On this episode, why Khalil's arrest...
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This Palestinian-American's debut novel may not be political — but her existence is

March 12, 2025 • 32 mins
To be a Palestinian-American writer right now can lead to a lot of expectation to focus on identity and devastation, but in her debut novel, Too Soon, Betty Shamieh shares the story of three generations of Palestinian women trying to find love, purpose and liberation.

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A look at the human toll of the construction of the Panama Canal

March 5, 2025 • 31 mins
The Panama Canal's impact on the geopolitical stage far outreaches its roughly 51-mile stretch of land and water. This week, we're trying to understand the canal's murky future - from climate change to President Trump's threat to take it for the U.S. - by looking at its turbulent, cataclysmic birth.

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Black audiences see themselves centered in a brand new soap opera

February 26, 2025 • 36 mins
B.A. Parker digs into the historical connection between Black Americans and soap operas with the launching of "Beyond the Gates," the first ever soap focused primarily on a Black family.

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The NFL's concussion problem beyond CTE

February 24, 2025 • 22 mins
In 2015, the NFL agreed to an uncapped settlement to pay former players diagnosed with brain disease. The agreement came after players sued the league for covering what it knew about the links between brain disease and football. But who's gotten paid and how much is affected by their race. On the final episode of our series on race and football, we speak with Will Hobson, investigative sports reporter at The Washington Post.
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What a Black enclave lost in the Los Angeles wildfires

February 19, 2025 • 30 mins
Altadena was the site of the Eaton fire, one of two major wildfires in Los Angeles County in January. The wind and flames destroyed more than 9,000 structures — and with them, the long-tenured Black community in the town. As efforts to recover and rebuild the town are underway, many residents are left wondering, what of their community will remain?

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An NFL star on what the game costs those who play it

February 17, 2025 • 18 mins
Dominique Foxworth played in the NFL from 2005 to 2011. After he retired, he went on to become the head of the NFL Players' Association, the union that represents players in the league. In this conversation, he describes what it was like sitting across from the league's lawyers, advocating for things like players' health care at a time when the risks of playing football were becoming clearer.
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Untangling the history of Black rights on Native land

February 12, 2025 • 33 mins
How the criminal legal system considers who is and isn't Native, and what that means for the Black people who are members of tribal nations. This reporting is part of an audio documentary from Audible called Tribal Justice: The Struggle for Black Rights on Native Land.

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What football tells us about race, labor and power

February 10, 2025 • 16 mins
The way football is played and who plays it — from the pee-wees to the pros — tells us so much about race, labor and power in the United States. In a conversation with cultural anthropologist Tracie Canada we explore how starting from young ages, Black players are nudged towards more physically taxing positions that require more strength, athleticism, speed. That affects who gets injured, how they're cared for and how they get paid...
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Hip-hop is 'fight the power' but also advertises for the power

February 5, 2025 • 34 mins
Critics point out the apparent hypocrisy of a pro-Black rapper like Kendrick Lamar headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, since the NFL isn't exactly an institution that's known for its support of Black lives. So on this episode, we're digging into the history of hip hop and how it's been co-opted.

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B.A. Parker is learning the banjo

January 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Parker has been trying to find her place in the banjo world. So this week, she talks to Black banjo players like Grammy nominee Rhiannon Giddens about creating community and reclaiming an instrument that's historically already theirs.

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The co-opting of MLK Jr. by...everybody

January 22, 2025 • 30 mins
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 hear how King's legacy got co-opted.

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Why laughing while crying is so Korean

January 15, 2025 • 39 mins
Comedian Youngmi Mayer talks about how her Korean family uses humor as a tool for survival. She gets into the Korean comedic tradition and why the saddest stuff is what makes them laugh the hardest.

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"The police are our friends"?

January 8, 2025 • 36 mins
How should Black parents talk to their kids about the police? Gene gets into it with his friend Chenjerai Kumanyika, host of Empire City, a podcast about the history of the NYPD. Chenjerai's show sprang out of his own attempts to talk with his young daughter about the police and what they do.

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How celebrating an Ecuadorian New Year's tradition brings us closer together

January 1, 2025 • 33 mins
Happy New Year, fam! This year, we're celebrating Ecuadorian style: by burning away what we want to let go of from last year and creating space for moving ahead with this year. Code Switch producer Xavier Lopez takes us on his journey to explore the tradition of his childhood, learn its origins, and honor it in his life in New York today.

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He was shot in Vermont. Now he wants to go home to the West Bank

December 25, 2024 • 47 mins
Shot and severely injured while visiting family in Vermont in 2023, Hisham Awartani grapples with his recovery in the U.S., and the unfolding war at home in the West Bank.

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