Accessibility links
Code Switch Blog Race and identity, remixed.

Code SwitchCode Switch

Race. In your face.

Wednesday

Giving up on identity with Ada Limón

Ada Limon, the current U.S. Poet Laureate, as well as a new recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. Ayna Lorenzo hide caption

toggle caption
Ayna Lorenzo

Code Switch

Giving up on identity with Ada Limón

by  ,  , 

Ada Limón is many things: the U.S. Poet Laureate, a recently named MacArthur "Genius," a Latina, a summer person becoming a fall person. But underneath all those outer identities, she's still in search for the "original animal at [her] core."

Giving up on identity with Ada Limón

Listen · 35:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954181/1208314758" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The agony and ecstasy of parenting

Comedian Hari Kondabolu with his son Arjun. Antoine Didienne/Courtesy of Hari Kondabolu hide caption

toggle caption
Antoine Didienne/Courtesy of Hari Kondabolu

Code Switch

The agony and ecstasy of parenting

by  ,  , 

Being a new parent is exhausting at the best of times. There are diapers to change, bottles to fill, screaming sobs to quiet down. But beyond all the routine chores that come with parenting, there are the larger social questions of how to raise a kid in a complex, unjust, and ever-changing world.

The agony and ecstasy of parenting

Listen · 27:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954150/1206565806" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

What does it mean to be good?

Author Alejandra Oliva (right) next to the cover of her memoir, Rivermouth. Headshot by Anna Longworth hide caption

toggle caption
Headshot by Anna Longworth

Code Switch

What does it mean to be good?

by  ,  , 

In her memoir Rivermouth, author Alejandra Oliva recounts her experiences working as a translator and interpreter for people seeking asylum in the U.S. But as she navigates the world of immigration advocacy, she starts to grapple with the question of what it means to help, and what it means to "want to star in the helping."

What does it mean to be good?

Listen · 32:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954134/1204879285" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

Students give a presentation at a construction site in South Baltimore. The student activists, who formed the group Free Your Voice, are fighting against a very different kind of danger in their neighborhood: air pollution and climate change. B.A. Parker/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
B.A. Parker/NPR

Code Switch

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

South Baltimore has some of the most polluted air in the country. Local teenagers are fighting polluters back, and slowly building toward climate justice.

Student activists are pushing back against big polluters — and winning

Listen · 38:37
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954102/1203315968" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Almost 4 million people are on probation or parole. Here's why that matters.

Author Vincent Schiraldi next to the cover of his new book, Mass Supervision. Headshot (left) by Paulette Louissaint hide caption

toggle caption
Headshot (left) by Paulette Louissaint

Code Switch

Almost 4 million people are on probation or parole. Here's why that matters.

by  ,  , 

In the past decade, the problem of mass incarceration has gotten increased attention and thought. But in his new book, Mass Supervision, Vincent Schiraldi argues that in those conversations, people often neglect to think about probation and parole — two of the biggest feeders to the U.S.'s prison population. These systems surveil close to four million Americans, which Schiraldi says is both a huge waste of resources and a massive human rights violation. On this episode, we're talking to Schiraldi about how probation and parole came to be, why they're no longer working as they were once supposed to, and why he thinks they might need to be done away with entirely.

Almost 4 million people are on probation or parole. Here's why that matters.

Listen · 36:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954050/1201799890" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The Supreme Court banned affirmative action — except at military service academies

Protesters for and against affirmative action demonstrate on Capitol Hill in June 2023. The Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Code Switch

The Supreme Court banned affirmative action — except at military service academies

by  ,  ,  , 

In June, the Supreme Court banned affirmative action at colleges and universities across the country, with one glaring exception: military academies. On this episode, we're asking — why?

The Supreme Court banned affirmative action — except at military service academies

Listen · 37:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197953097/1200354714" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Remembering and unremembering, from Kigali to Nashville

Originally from Rwanda, Claude Gatebuke came to Nashville 30 years ago. Joseph Ross for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Joseph Ross for NPR

Code Switch

Remembering and unremembering, from Kigali to Nashville

by  ,  ,  ,  , 

For centuries, the idea of the "American Dream" has been a powerful narrative for many immigrant communities. But for just as long, many African Americans have known that the American Dream was never meant to include them. So what happens when those beliefs collide? Today ten percent of the Black population in the U.S. are immigrants, and many grapple with this question. In this episode, we'll hear from Claude Gatebuke, who moved from Kigali to Nashville as a teenager in the wake of the Rwandan genocide. He talks about how the move to the U.S. likely saved his life, while simultaneously challenging his belief that he could have a full, meaningful future as a Black man.

Remembering and unremembering, from Kigali to Nashville

Listen · 38:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197953031/1199127970" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Fall football — or the fall of football?
NPR/Getty Images

Analysis

Code Switch

Fall football — or the fall of football?

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

This week, the NFL is gearing up for the start of its 104th season. But as this new chapter begins, we're looking at some of the league's old problems with race and diversity — ones that have implications for the coaches, the players, and the fans.

Fall football — or the fall of football?

Listen · 34:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197646715/1199269933" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Bad Bunny exalts Puerto Rico in his music of resistance. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Code Switch

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

by  ,  ,  , 

Bad Bunny, the genre- and gender norm-defying Puerto Rican rapper, is one of the biggest music stars on the planet. He has also provided a global megaphone for Puerto Rican discontent. In this episode, we take a look at how Bad Bunny became the unlikely voice of resistance in Puerto Rico. This episode originally aired in January 2023.

Bad Bunny, Reggaeton, and Resistance

Listen · 38:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1196501231/1199269870" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

What makes a good race joke?

Comedians Brian Bahe, Maz Jobrani and Aparna Nancherla. Brian Bahe, Storm Santos and Aparna Nancherla hide caption

toggle caption
Brian Bahe, Storm Santos and Aparna Nancherla

Code Switch

What makes a good race joke?

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

When a comedian of color makes a joke, is it always about race, even if it's not about race? Code Switch talks to comedians Aparna Nancherla, Brian Bahe and Maz Jobrani about how and why race makes an appearance in their jokes. Plus, one of our own reveals her early-career dabbling in comedy.

What makes a good race joke?

Listen · 27:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1195064424/1199264475" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Family, fortune, and the fight for Osage headrights

Richard Lonsinger at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, holding a photo of himself as a child shortly after he was adopted. Sam Yellowhorse Kesler/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Sam Yellowhorse Kesler/NPR

Code Switch

Family, fortune, and the fight for Osage headrights

by  ,  ,  , 

When Richard J. Lonsinger's birth mother passed away in 2010, he wasn't included in the distribution of her estate. Feeling hurt and excluded, he asked a judge to re-open her estate, to give him a part of one particular asset: an Osage headright. But the more Lonsinger learned about the history of the headrights, the more he began to wonder who was really entitled to them, and where he fit in.

Family, fortune, and the fight for Osage headrights

Listen · 23:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1190733199/1199264479" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50
Islen Milien for NPR

The Code Switch Podcast

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50

by  ,  ,  , 

For hip-hop's not-official-but-kind-of-official 50th birthday, we dig into its many contradictions. From the legend of the South Bronx block party where hip-hop was born to the multi-billion-dollar global industry and tool for U.S. diplomacy it has become, America's relationship with hip-hop — and the people who make it — is complicated.

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50

Listen · 34:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1190798156/1199264483" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons
Thumy Phan for NPR

The Code Switch Podcast

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

by  ,  ,  , 

Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most popular tabletop role-playing games of all time. But it has also helped cement some ideas about how we create and define race in fantasy — and in the tangible world. This week we revisit a deep dive into that game. What we find about racial stereotypes and colonialist supremacy is illuminating.

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

Listen · 33:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1190797554/1199264517" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

The covers of recent Code Switch summer book picks, including Hijab Butch Blues, Alma y Como Obtuvo Su Nombre, I'm Not Done With You Yet, and The Late Americans. Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books hide caption

toggle caption
Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books

Code Switch

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

There are race books, and there are beach reads, and never the twain shall meet. You know that old truism, right? Well, this is Code Switch (the show about race and identity and romance and drama from NPR), and we weren't willing to accept that dichotomy. So on this episode, we're bringing you a bouquet of our favorite summer thrillers, love stories, memoirs and more — all of which have something to say about race.

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

Listen · 34:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1189451728/1199264521" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

The conspiracy theory alleges that a shadowy global elite conspires to control the world's population, in part by forcing them to eat insects. Kyle Ellingson for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kyle Ellingson for NPR

Code Switch

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

by  ,  ,  , 

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.

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

Listen · 33:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1188237695/1199264525" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript