Code Switch
NPR
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.<br><br><em>Want to level up your Code Switch game? Try Code Switch Plus. </em><em>Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at </em><em>plus.npr.org/</em><em>codeswitch</em>
- 39 minutes 16 secondsWas dating while Black always so hard?Dating can be tough. Dating while Black? That can feel nigh impossible sometimes, given how the long tentacles of racism have wrapped themselves around every aspect of our lives (and hearts.) But was dating any easier in the past? We're putting that question to the test on this special Valentine's Day episode of the pod. We revisit a conversation with audio storyteller and host of the podcast, Our Ancestors Were Messy, Nichole Hill. She takes us back in time to 1937, using archival personal ads from the Washington Afro-American to show us what it was like for Black folks to date almost a century ago.
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NPR Privacy Policy11 February 2026, 8:00 am - 20 minutes 23 secondsBad Bunny, resistance, and the Super Bowl halftime showCan a superstar be an actual voice of resistance? How does Bad Bunny's choice to perform at the NFL Super Bowl halftime show square with his politics of resistance to U.S. imperialism and decision to avoid the U.S. in his current world tour? We're speaking with Bad Bunny experts and authors of "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance," Vanessa Diaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau.
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NPR Privacy Policy7 February 2026, 8:00 am - 35 minutes 12 secondsThe history of Black History Month, one hundred years inIn so many spaces, celebrating Black History History month means learning a few fun facts about famous African Americans. But Black History Month was designed to be much more radical — it was an opportunity for Black communities to learn about the aspects of their history that had been downplayed, diminished, or even actively suppressed. We talk to historian Jarvis Givens about his new book, “I’ll Make Me A World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month”, and how studying and preserving Black history has changed (or not) over the years.
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NPR Privacy Policy4 February 2026, 8:00 am - 17 minutes 19 secondsAmericans are worried about crime. Here’s how politicians leverage it"Fighting crime" is often used as a justification for many of the Trump administration's policies — from mass deportations to its actions in Venezuela to its crackdown in Minnesota — despite the fact that crime is at a historic low, and has been falling for decades. We talk to Meg Anderson, NPR’s criminal justice correspondent, about how that taps into Americans' disproportionate fears about crime, and how that makes scenes like what we see in Minneapolis possible.
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NPR Privacy Policy31 January 2026, 8:00 am - 28 minutes 5 secondsWhat the history of U.S. protests illuminates about todayTo the casual observer, it might seem like the U.S. has spent years in a constant state of protest — and they’re only getting more intense under the second Trump administration. So we’re revisiting our conversation with Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, the author of “A Protest History of the United States” about what forms of protest have worked in the past, and what lessons people can take from those protesters.
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NPR Privacy Policy28 January 2026, 8:00 am - 17 minutes 26 secondsWhat the quarter-zip craze tells us about Blackness and respectabilityWhat does the humble, boring quarter-zip sweater have to do with respectability politics and Blackness? Apparently, a lot! When two young Black men on TikTok brought the quarter-zip into vogue for young folks, they unknowingly waded into some very long-lived discourse on Black fashion and looking "respectable." Today on the pod, we chop it up with Jonathan Square, professor of Black visual culture at Parsons School of Design, about Black fashion, and what's happening more broadly to make this pretty plain sweater the "it" garment.
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NPR Privacy Policy24 January 2026, 8:00 am - 39 minutes 15 secondsHow local police extend ICE's reach, even in sanctuary citiesSanctuary policies have been described on both sides of the aisle as protecting immigrants. But in many ways, in practice, they have given rise to a specific kind of policing that gives ICE a much wider reach than it might otherwise have. We talk to anthropologist Peter Mancina, who is the author of a recent book, On the Side of Ice: Policing Immigrants in a Sanctuary State about his on-the-ground research embedding with police in New Jersey.
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NPR Privacy Policy21 January 2026, 3:35 pm - 22 minutes 21 secondsFreedom through the eyes of foes: Rev. Martin Luther King and Sen. Barry GoldwaterIn honor of MLK Day, we sit down with historian Nicholas Buccola, author of One Man’s Freedom, to re-examine the concept of "freedom" by comparing the legacies of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and conservative politician Barry Goldwater. In our conversation, Buccola reveals the profound gulf between Goldwater's abstract view of freedom and King's focus on the daily fight for dignity and individual liberty– and he helps us understand what this historical battle can teach us about the fight for freedom today.
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NPR Privacy Policy17 January 2026, 8:00 am - 33 minutes 13 secondsVenezuela and the long tradition of US interferenceThe U.S. ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is just the latest chapter in a long, troubling history of American intervention in Latin America. NPR immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd brings us to the New York courthouse where President Maduro was indicted by the U.S. government. We also talk to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Greg Grandin, who explains how the modern concept of national sovereignty — a country’s right to govern itself — originated in Latin America as a response to U.S. expansion.
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NPR Privacy Policy14 January 2026, 8:00 am - 18 minutes 11 secondsJelani Cobb talks democracy, Trumpism, and the future of journalism2026 is off to an intense start, but many of the events we're seeing play out today come out of dynamics that have been building for years. Jelani Cobb, a journalist, historian, and the Dean of Columbia's journalism school, talks to us about his new book, Three of More is a Riot (Notes on How We Got Here: 2012-2025), which analyzes some of the major events of the United States' past decade and a half, and how they've set the groundwork for much of what's happening now.
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NPR Privacy Policy10 January 2026, 8:00 am - 34 minutes 40 secondsHow 'The Joy Luck Club' highlighted the complicated dynamics of immigrant familiesConnecting across generations can be tough, even in the same family. This is at the heart of Amy Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club. This week, we're bringing you an episode from NPR's Books We Loved series, where our very own B. A. Parker, along with Andrew Limbong and The Indicator’s Wailin Wong, discuss how miscommunication and misunderstandings between parents and their children continues to be a theme in stories of immigrant families today.
You can listen to more Books We Loved in the Book of the Day podcast feed.
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