Accessibility links
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
Code Switch

Podcast Directory
CS
NPR

Code Switch

From NPR

See More

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

Most Recent Episodes

Markwayne Mullin wears a cowboy hat at work.
Getty Images

Markwayne Mullin is conservative, Christian, Cherokee, and the new head of DHS

On Monday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as the newest head of the Department of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem. It's an enormously consequential role that involves taking charge of ICE, border patrol, and TSA. And Mullin is an interesting choice for the role — he's a conservative, Christian citizen of Cherokee nation, known both for his ability to reach across the aisle, and for being a political firebrand. So today on the show, we're asking: What will Markwayne Mullin's leadership of DHS mean for Indian Country? And what will it mean for the nation as a whole?

Markwayne Mullin is conservative, Christian, Cherokee, and the new head of DHS

Listen · 35:16
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5759708/nx-s1-mx-5759708-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The top half of a face wearing a camouflage hat that reads "TRUMP" in orange letters and aviator sunglasses.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP/Getty Images

What Trump's language has in common with cult language

When President Trump says things like “fake news,” “witch hunt” or even “Make America Great Again,” he’s not just using catchy phrases -- he’s persuading people into a way of thinking and believing. This week on Code Switch, we talk to Amanda Montell, author of Cultish and co-host of the podcast Sounds Like A Cult, about what the language of MAGA shares with cult language, and why it matters.

What Trump's language has in common with cult language

Listen · 16:25
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5755013/nx-s1-mx-5755013-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Scouts are too woke, according to Pete Hegseth

The Scouts are too woke, according to Pete Hegseth

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently put Scouting America — formerly known as the Boy Scouts — "on notice." The once great organization was becoming too woke, he said, and had been tarnished by embracing DEI. On this episode, we're talking to Benjamin René Jordan, author of Modern Manhood and the Boy Scouts of America, about the Scouts' surprisingly progressive history. And we ask him about the complex relationship between scouting and the military.

The Scouts are too woke, according to Pete Hegseth

Listen · 34:50
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5750837/nx-s1-mx-5750837-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Activist Mary Hamilton, a Black woman with short hair, stands in front of a painted sign for the Congress of Racial Equity.

Mary Hamilton was found in contempt of court in Alabama, when she refused to answer questions after the prosecution addressed her only by her first name. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in her favor. AP/AP hide caption

toggle caption
AP/AP

The Black civil rights leader who sued to be called “Miss”

It’s Alabama, 1963. A black woman stands before a judge, but she refuses to acknowledge his questions until he addresses her by the same honorific given to white women: “Miss.” That woman's name is Mary Hamilton. Her case eventually reached the Supreme Court and changed the courts, and eventually broader culture, for good. We’re revisiting the largely forgotten story of Miss Mary Hamilton, a Freedom Rider who struck a blow against a pervasive form of disrespect.

The Black civil rights leader who sued to be called “Miss”

Listen · 25:37
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5742442/nx-s1-mx-5742442-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What the success of "Sinners" does (and doesn't) say about race and Hollywood
Warner Brothers

What the success of "Sinners" does (and doesn't) say about race and Hollywood

Sinners has already broken records — it's the most Oscar-nominated film in the history of the Academy Awards. But is the movie itself actually historic? And what will its success mean for the future of Black filmmaking? This week, we're joined by Aisha Harris, a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, and NY Mag film critic Angelica Jade Bastién. We get into what we loved, what we hated, and how Sinners fits into the broader landscape of big, splashy films that are beloved...yet never quite seem to move the needle on how Hollywood greenlights and funds future projects.

What the success of "Sinners" does (and doesn't) say about race and Hollywood

Listen · 35:29
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5733973/nx-s1-mx-5733973-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Why Iranian perspectives often get flattened and caricatured
Atta Kenare/Getty Images

Why Iranian perspectives often get flattened and caricatured

Iran has 90 million people of different ethnicities, faiths, and backgrounds, who have very different ideas about the country. Iranian American scholar Sina Toossi shares some of those varying perspectives with us to help complicate how Iranians feel about U.S. intervention, the war, and what should come next.

Why Iranian perspectives often get flattened and caricatured

Listen · 13:05
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5737609/nx-s1-mx-5737609-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Pictures of screens displaying outdated myspace and facebook landing pages.

How the internet got gentrified

We all know what gentrification looks like IRL — boxy, corporate-owned apartment complexes, places to get a quick bowl for lunch, streets that are dubbed "cleaner" and "safer" (even at the expense of the people who used to live there). But what does gentrification look like online? We’re talking to Jessa Lingel, who studies digital culture at the University of Pennsylvania, about her argument that the internet has become gentrified, and that we're all suffering the consequences.

How the internet got gentrified

Listen · 31:12
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5720754/nx-s1-mx-5720754-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Remembering Jesse Jackson
Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Remembering Jesse Jackson

The late Reverend Jesse Jackson was — and still is — a revered civil rights activist, political trailblazer, and pop culture icon. For his critics, he was also villainized, or at the very least, a punchline. As Jackson's home going ceremony continues, we take some time to remember how Jackson shaped American politics with journalist Adam Serwer, who warns us not to flatten Jackson into a cliche or caricature.

Remembering Jesse Jackson

Listen · 20:18
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5718553/nx-s1-mx-5718553-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
An illustration of Iris Morales, a member of the Young Lords, as she appeared in the 1960s.
Raysa Rodriguez/Futuro Studios

The Young Lords' legacy of fighting for Puerto Rico from the mainland

While Puerto Rican independence is in the spotlight after Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show, we're throwing it to our play cousins at La Brega, a show about all things Puerto Rico. We hear from former Young Lords member Iris Morales about how the group took their love for their homeland to educate and organize against U.S. colonialism.

The Young Lords' legacy of fighting for Puerto Rico from the mainland

Listen · 47:52
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5724206/nx-s1-mx-5724206-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
What is "white culture," anyway?

Jeremy Carl, President Trump's recent nominee for a senior State Department role Getty Images (Wire Photo)/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images (Wire Photo)/Getty Images

What is "white culture," anyway?

Jeremy Carl — President Trump's nominee for a senior State Department role -- was called out for his commentary on "white erasure" during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month. He defended the idea that "white culture" is in danger of being erased in the U.S. and that white people face more racial discrimination than any other group in country. So on this episode, we're talking to the Princeton historian Nell Irvin Painter about her book, The History of White People, and how definitions of whiteness have morphed over time depending on the interests of the people creating those definitions.

White Culture

Listen · 27:12
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5721166/nx-s1-mx-5721166-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
or search npr.org