Accessibility links
Code Switch Blog Race and identity, remixed.

Code SwitchCode Switch

Race. In your face.

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

Wednesday

Is "home" still home after 30 years away?

Journalist Brian de los Santos pictures in a photo collage with some of his travel documents. Dan Carino/LAist hide caption

toggle caption
Dan Carino/LAist

Code Switch

Is "home" still home after 30 years away?

by  ,  , 

Brian de los Santos always thought of Mexico as his "home" — despite not having been able to return to his country of birth for three decades. But when he finally got a chance to visit, his conception of what home was and where he belonged totally shifted.

Is "home" still home after 30 years away?

Listen · 36:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1184305185/1199264529" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

How a Black cheer squad in Buffalo deals with the racist massacre blocks away

The Buffalo All-Star Extreme cheer team grapples with the repercussions from a mass shooting at a nearby grocery store. Kristen Uroda for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kristen Uroda for NPR

Perspective

Code Switch

How a Black cheer squad in Buffalo deals with the racist massacre blocks away

by  ,  ,  ,  , 

This week, we're sharing the first episode of "Buffalo Extreme," a three-part series from our play cousins at NPR's Embedded. The series follows a Black cheer squad, their moms and their coaches in the year after the racist massacre at the Jefferson Street Tops in Buffalo, New York, just blocks from their gym. NPR hands the mic to the girls and women in that community as they navigate the complicated path to recovery in the year after.

How a Black cheer squad in Buffalo deals with the racist massacre blocks away

Listen · 32:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1184324348/1199264533" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Going back to the plantation where my ancestors were enslaved

B.A.Parker at Somerset Place plantation as a child. Courtesy of B.A.Parker hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of B.A.Parker

Perspective

Code Switch

Going back to the plantation where my ancestors were enslaved

by  ,  ,  , 

In the second of two episodes, Code Switch co-host B.A. Parker is figuring out what kind of descendant she wants to be. Parker and her mom decide to go back to the plantation where their ancestors were enslaved, because despite the circumstances of slavery, this is where their family began.

Going back to the plantation where my ancestors were enslaved

Listen · 33:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1180494396/1199264537" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

How do descendants of slavery honor their ancestors' legacy?

A photo of Somerset Place plantation in North Carolina. B.A. Parker/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
B.A. Parker/NPR

Perspective

Code Switch

How do descendants of slavery honor their ancestors' legacy?

by  ,  ,  , 

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, are caretakers of "culturally significant historical places."

How do descendants of slavery honor their ancestors' legacy?

Listen · 33:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1180479949/1199264541" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Black praise in white pews: When your church doesn't love you back
LA Johnson/Getty Images/NPR

The Code Switch Podcast

Black praise in white pews: When your church doesn't love you back

by  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

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 Christians who, like him for a time, found their spiritual homes in white evangelical churches.

Black praise in white pews: When your church doesn't love you back

Listen · 38:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1181012580/1199264545" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

When your demographic clone tells their secrets, are they telling yours, too?

Actor and comedian D'Lo performing in his one-man play, "To T or Not to T." Mikel Darling hide caption

toggle caption
Mikel Darling

Code Switch

When your demographic clone tells their secrets, are they telling yours, too?

by  ,  ,  ,  Alyssa Jeong Perry

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 front street for the world to see, it can feel like they're sharing your secrets, too.

When your demographic clone tells their secrets, are they telling yours, too?

Listen · 30:18
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1180439814/1199264549" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Finding generations of family — and history — on Chinatown's Mott Street

Author Ava Chin poses next to the cover of her recent book, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming Author headshot via Tommy Kha hide caption

toggle caption
Author headshot via Tommy Kha

Code Switch

Finding generations of family — and history — on Chinatown's Mott Street

by  ,  , 

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 to learn more about her ancestors, and in doing so, to work toward correcting the historical record for all Americans.

Finding generations of family — and history — on Chinatown's Mott Street

Listen · 30:12
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1178765635/1199264553" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming

Joan Suzuki, the grandmother of reporter Kori Suzuki, who was born and raised in the U.S., but lived in Japan during World War II. Kori Suzuki hide caption

toggle caption
Kori Suzuki

Code Switch

Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming

by  Kori Suzuki ,  ,  ,  , 

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, less-known story about the tens of thousands of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II — and whose lives uprooted in a very different way.

Across the ocean: a Japanese American story of war and homecoming

Listen · 34:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1177511189/1199264557" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The implications of the case against ICWA

Rebecca Nagle is the host of the podcast "This Land." Sean Scheidt/Sean Scheidt hide caption

toggle caption
Sean Scheidt/Sean Scheidt

Code Switch

The implications of the case against ICWA

by  ,  , 

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 centuries of U.S. law protecting the rights of Indigenous nations. "Native kids have been the tip of the spear in attacks on tribal sovereignty for generations."

The implications of the case against ICWA

Listen · 32:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1175041677/1199264561" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Naomi Jackson talks 'losing and finding my mind'

Writer Naomi Jackson Lola Flash/Naomi Jackson hide caption

toggle caption
Lola Flash/Naomi Jackson

Code Switch

Naomi Jackson talks 'losing and finding my mind'

by  ,  , 

"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 how she has had to decipher which of her fears stem from her illness and which are backed by the history of racism.

Naomi Jackson talks 'losing and finding my mind'

Listen · 30:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1173096938/1199264565" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

K-Pop's Surprising B(l)ackstory

In LAist's podcast California Love: K-Pop Dreaming, host Vivian Yoon tells the story of the origins of K-Pop. LAist/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
LAist/NPR

Code Switch

K-Pop's Surprising B(l)ackstory

by  ,  , 

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, we're sharing an episode of In K-Pop Dreaming, the second season of LAist's California Love podcast. In it, Yoon takes listeners on a journey to learn about the history behind the music that had defined her childhood.

K-Pop's Surprising B(l)ackstory

Listen · 45:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1171999965/1199264569" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

The Fallout of a Callout

Hank Azaria (left) and Hari Kondabolu speak with each other in public for the first time since their fallout in 2017. PR Agency/Designed by NPR hide caption

toggle caption
PR Agency/Designed by NPR

Code Switch

The Fallout of a Callout

by  ,  ,  , 

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 Indian character on The Simpsons. On this episode, Hari and Hank sit down to talk publicly for the first time about that callout and everything that has gone down since.

The Fallout of a Callout

Listen · 28:42
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1169162406/1199264573" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Real self-care takes real systemic change

Psychiatrist Pooja Lakshmin next to the cover of her new book, Real Self Care (Crystals, Cleanses and Bubble Baths Not Included.) Courtesy of the publisher hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the publisher

Code Switch

Real self-care takes real systemic change

by  ,  , 

"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, host B.A. Parker asks: What are your options when a bubble bath won't cut it?

Real self-care takes real systemic change

Listen · 35:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1170063872/1199264577" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript