Code Switch
Episodes
Who's Your Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaddy?
09 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Spit into a tube and get in touch with your ancestors! Or not. On this episode we interview the founder of a project that uses DNA tests to talk about...
The U.S. Census and Our Sense of Us
02 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Census is so much more than cold, hard data. It's about what we call ourselves, the ways we see ourselves and how we're represented. On this episo...
What's Good? Talking Hip-Hop and Race With Stretch & Bobbito
26 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene mix it up with the pioneering hip-hop radio hosts Stretch and Bobbito. These impresarios ran a legendary show in New York City during...
What's So Wrong With African Americans Wearing African Clothes?
19 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Leila Day and Hana Baba are hosts of a new podcast called The Stoop. It features conversations black people have amongst themselves — but rarely in ...
A Police Video From Charlotte
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This encore presentation goes deep on a case involving a white police officer and an unarmed black man in Charlotte, NC. Videos in police-involved sho...
The Supreme Court Decides In Favor Of A Racial Slur...Now What?
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided in favor of Simon Tam, front man of the band The Slants. The group has been fighting the U.S. Patent and Trade...
It's Our Anniversary
28 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene celebrate our first year on the podcast. We take a look back to some memorable stories with updates from the team and some of our gue...
What To Make Of Philando Castile's Death, One Year Later
21 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of the acquittal of the officer who shot and killed Philando Castile, Gene and Shereen speak to a reporter who has followed the case ...
Encore: 'You're A Grand Old Flag'
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why do some people of color embrace the American flag while others refuse to wave it? In this episode from the Code Switch archives, Gene Demby and Ad...
A Prescription For "Racial Imposter Syndrome"
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene look at "racial imposter syndrome." It's what one listener described as feeling fake, or inauthentic, in her identity. We invited lis...
'Give It Up For DJ Blackface!'
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we follow the strange trend of white dance-music DJs who pass themselves off as black artists. Gene talks to legendary House music DJ Ron T...
We're Still Talking About "My Family's Slave"
24 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we join the global conversation on The Atlantic's essay "My Family's Slave," in which Alex Tizon writes about Eudocia Tomas Pulido, who was...
Japanese Americans Exiled In Utah
20 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The story of over 100,000 Japanese Americans enduring life in internment camps during WW II is well known, but a few thousand avoided the camps, entir...
Master of None's Alan Yang Unpacks Season 2
17 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and guest co-host Lenika Cruz, who covers culture at The Atlantic, welcome Alan Yang. He and comedian Aziz Ansari created an Emmy-winning comedy ...
The Blessing (And Curse?) Of Miss Saigon
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Miss Saigon has returned to Broadway. When the hit musical was first performed was controversial for its stereotypes and story and casting choices. Sh...
Talking Black-ish With Star Yara Shahidi And Creator Kenya Barris
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Black-ish creator (Kenya) and the show's 17-year-old star (Yara) talk about what's next for them on TV and in real life. Kenya explains why he's never...
The LA Unrest (Or Riots) 25 Years Later
29 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We hear from a Latino city councilman who was there when it all went down, a Korean-American who worked at her family's gas station in Compton and a p...
John Leguizamo, Still In Search Of John Leguizamo
26 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gene welcomes NPR's Audie Cornish to talk about multi-talented writer, producer and comedian John Leguizamo. As a performer, he's mined his...
Mailbag! Listener Questions and Comments That Got Us Thinking
19 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene tackle listeners' reactions to recent episodes. One wants to know the difference between Persian and Iranian. (It's complicated.) Ano...
How One Inmate Changed The Prison System From The Inside
15 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this Podcast Extra, NPR correspondent Joe Shapiro recalls the life and legacy of Martin Sostre, someone he first reported on as a student in the 19...
The Beef Over Native American Hunting Rights
12 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene welcome reporter Nate Hegyi, who spent a day in Montana with a Nez Perce hunting party, a tribe that faces strong opposition from som...
Changing Colors In Comics
05 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and guest host Glen Weldon (our play cousin from Pop Culture Happy Hour) explore how comics are used as spaces for mapping race and identity. Gen...
Podcast Extra En Español: Jeanette Vizguerra
01 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jeanette Vizguerra speaks with Adrian Florido about her experience living in the church where she's taken sanctuary as she fights her deportation case...
Sanctuary Churches: Who Controls The Story?
29 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Code Switch's Adrian Florido has been covering the new sanctuary movement for us. For this episode, he spoke to key players to understand why hundreds...
A Bittersweet Persian New Year
22 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's springtime, and the celebration of rebirth and the New Year in Iranian-American communities is tempered by the recent rise in Islamaphobic incide...
The 80-Year Mystery Around 'Fred Douglas' Park
18 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In Nashville, there was a time when the idea of a "Negro park" ruffled feathers. For more than 80 years, there's been confusion about whether a park o...
Not-So-Simple Questions From Code Switch Listeners
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and Shereen tackle some Code Switch listeners' questions about race and identity with a voice coach, a professor of children's literature, and tw...
Safety-Pin Solidarity: With Allies, Who Benefits?
08 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Does wearing safety pins and giving speeches at awards shows make you an ally? On this episode we explore the conundrums of ally-ship with activist an...
In Search Of Puerto Rican Identity In Small-Town America
01 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Puerto Ricans are migrants not immigrants, Spanish and English, domestic yet foreign — as we like to say on Code Switch, it's complicated. A hundred...
The Horror, The Horror: "Get Out" And The Place of Race in Scary Movies
22 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's one of the oldest clichés of horror movies: the black guy dies first. But that's not the case in the new film "Get Out," written and directed by...
Ten Thousand Writers... and Two Intrepid Podcast Hosts
15 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gene welcomes Code Switch reporter Kat Chow as guest host and they camp out at one of the biggest conferences for writers on the planet, held by the A...
Oscars So Black...At Least, In Documentaries
08 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A filmmaker of color is almost certain to win this year's Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. In fact, for the first time, African-American documentar...
Encore Plus: Who Is A Good Immigrant, Anyway?
01 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene are joined by Code Switch's own Adrian Florido to revisit a conversation about how advocates are challenging the narrative of the "go...
So, What Are You Afraid of Now?
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Code Switch listeners join Shereen and Gene in talking about their concerns and frustrations during the first hundred days of President Trump's admini...
Obama's Legacy: Did He Remix Race?
18 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We conclude our three part series of conversations on President Obama's racial legacy. It's likely that Barack Obama will be known not only as the fir...
Obama's Legacy: Callouts and Fallouts
11 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Shereen and Gene continue our conversation on President Barack Obama's racial legacy. Where did the president fall short — or fail — people of col...
Obama's Legacy: Diss-ent or Diss-respect?
04 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of three conversations about President Barack Obama's racial legacy,Code Switch asks how much race or racism drove the way the first blac...
Encore: Everyone Is Talking To Barry Jenkins, But Our Interview Is (Still) the Best!
28 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We revisit Gene's conversation with filmmaker Barry Jenkins to close out 2016. Jenkins' latest movie is Moonlight. There's buzz for awards nomination...
A Chitlins Christmas: Bah Humbug!
21 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
You know it when you see it or, maybe by the smell. It's the holiday dish no one really likes but someone always makes "because it's tradition." Not a...
Hold Up! Time For An Explanatory Comma
14 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and Shereen ask how much cultural context to give when talking about race and culture. So, how much context should you have to provide? Comedian ...
Audie and the Not-So-Magic School Bus
07 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
NPR's Audie Cornish was bused to an affluent suburban school outside Boston in a voluntary integration program. She reflects on her experiences with G...
Encore: Asian American Letter on Behalf of Black Lives
30 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We present an encore episode from Summer 2016: Shereen Marisol Meraji and Kat Chow talk with Christina Xu about her project to open up a difficult rac...
Want Some Gravy With Those Grievances?
23 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
For families of color, the recent Presidential campaign season and election results may affect the tone of conversations at Thanksgiving and throughou...
Another Black President Says Goodbye To Washington
16 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Christopher Jackson steps down this week from his role as George Washington in the award-winning Broadway show Hamilton. Gene gets an exit inter...
A Muslim and A Mexican Walk Into A Bar....
10 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and Shereen digest the surprising results of the presidential election with help from a comedian and a columnist. Negin Farsad hosts the podcast ...
Apocalypse Or Racial Kumbaya? America After Nov. 8
02 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In just a few days, the election will be over. But the racism, anger and fear that have surfaced will still be with us. Gene and Shereen talk with Car...
Everyone Is Talking To Barry Jenkins But Our Interview Is The Best
26 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Just kidding. But seriously, "Moonlight," Jenkins' new film, is the movie of the moment. Gene talks with him about what it took to get the movie made,...
Encore: "I'm Not Black I'm O.J."
12 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
From the Code Switch archives: Gene talks with Ezra Edelman, director of the ESPN documentary "OJ: Made in America." For a long time, O.J. Simpson see...
Who Is A Good Immigrant, Anyway?
05 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
You might call "Dreamers" the most sympathetic characters in the immigration reform drama. But what happens when advocates try to champion an illegal ...
The Code Switch Guide To Handling Casual Racism
28 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Awkward comments. Rude questions. Casual racism. What do you do when it happens in your presence? The mental calculus is hard enough. It gets even har...
Warning! This Episode May Trigger Debate
21 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for some real talk on trigger warnings. Gene and Shereen dig into it with two college professors. What really happens in the classroom when ...
Why Do We Still Care About Tupac?
14 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Tupac Shakur died 20 years ago this week. Gene Demby and Shereen Marisol Meraji debate his legacy with the writer Kevin Powell, who covered the rapper...
The Dangers Of Life As An American 'Nobody'
08 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Marc Lamont Hill untangles the decades of dysfunction that have led to recent racial flash-points in his latest book, Nobody: Casualties of America's ...
Code Switch Extra: Singer Juan Gabriel's Sexuality Was 'Open Secret'
04 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Many Mexican and Mexican Americans loved Juan Gabriel's music, but ridiculed his sexuality. Can his death open a new conversation about gay identity i...
What's So Funny About The Indian Accent?
31 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
From Apu to Ashton Kutcher, mimicking the Indian accent is still widely seen as fair game. Even lots of ABCD's — American-born confused desis — do...
Code Switch Extra: "Southside" and Black Love at the Movies
26 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Code Switch's Karen Grigsby Bates and NPR movie critic Bob Mondello discuss "Southside With You," a fictionalized version of Barack and Michelle Obama...
Nate Parker's Past, His Present, And The Future Of "The Birth of A Nation"
24 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Actor Nate Parker is the center of a lot attention these days because of his upcoming movie The Birth of A Nation. Parker wrote, directed and stars as...
Struggling School, Or Sanctuary?
17 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When a school shuts down, students often lose more than a place of learning; they lose friends, mentors and a community. This is an experience that di...
Say My Name, Say My Name (Correctly, Please)
10 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When you have a name like Aparna Nancherla or Maz Jobrani, you get used to people butchering it. These two comedians, who both come from immigrant fam...
What Does "Objectivity" Mean To Journalists Of Color?
03 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
News stories of conflict involving people of color raise questions about the role of diversity in newsrooms. With the current election cycle drenched ...
A Letter From Young Asian Americans, To Their Parents, About Black Lives Matter
27 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The day after the police shooting of Philando Castile, hundreds of young Asian Americans connected online to write an open letter to their parents, gr...
46 Stops: The Driving Life and Death of Philando Castile
20 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When Philando Castile was killed by a police officer during a recent traffic stop, it was the last of at least 46 times he had been pulled over by pol...
Black and Blue
14 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of deadly police shootings of black men and the deaths of five policemen at the hands of a black gunman, Shereen Marisol Meraji and G...
Code Switch Extra: No Words
09 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's hard to figure out what to say after the horrific violence of the last week, which began with two new viral videos of police shooting black men a...
"You're A Grand Old Flag"
06 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Why do some people of color embrace the American flag while others refuse to wave it? Gene Demby and Adrian Florido unpack the complicated patriotism ...
"I'm Not Black, I'm O.J.!"
29 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
For a long time, O.J. Simpson seemed to be running away from his race. "I'm not black, I'm O.J.!" he'd tell his friends. The he was charged with murde...
I Don't Know If I Like This, But I Want It To Win
22 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and Kat talk about "rep sweats," worrying over how people of color are portrayed on TV and in the movies. Kat remembers growing up watching TV wi...
How LGBTQ People of Color Are Dealing With Orlando
16 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The tragedy in Orlando this week shook many people in communities that already feel vulnerable...LGBTQ Americans, Latinos, Muslims and people living a...
Code Switch Extra: Re-Remembering Muhammad Ali
10 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Sure, Ali was the greatest, a humanitarian, an inspiration. He was also a complicated, messy figure. Gene and the team dig in, and wonder what people ...
Made For You And Me
08 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Black people don't hike? Latinos don't like camping? Asians are afraid of the sun? Adrian and Shereen dig into the stereotypes — and truths — abou...
Can We Talk About Whiteness?
31 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gene and Shereen dig into why it's so hard to talk about white identity in America — and why it's really important that we figure out how.Learn more...
The Code Switch Podcast Is Coming!
09 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a preview of our new podcast, exploring how race and culture collide with everything else in our lives.Learn more about sponsor message choices...