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Code Switch

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Ever find yourself in a conversation about race and identity where you just get...stuck? Code Switch can help. We're all journalists of color, and this isn't just the work we do. It's the lives we lead. Sometimes, we'll make you laugh. Other times, you'll get uncomfortable. But we'll always be unflinchingly honest and empathetic. Come mix it up with us.More from Code Switch »

Most Recent Episodes

We're Still Talking About "My Family's Slave"

Alex Tizon and Lola, whose full name was Eudocia Tomas Pulido, photographed in Manila. Courtesy of Melissa Tizon hide caption

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Courtesy of Melissa Tizon

We're Still Talking About "My Family's Slave"

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 his family's katulong, or domestic servant, for 56 years. Why did Eudocia's story hit such a raw nerve in the U.S. and the Philippines? Shereen and Gene talk to Vicente Rafael, a professor who has studied and written about the practice in his native Philippines. We also hear from Lydia Catina Amaya, a Filipina who was a katulong in the Philippines and the United States. And we talk to Melissa Tizon, the author's widow. Eudocia Tomas Pulido lived in their home for the last 12 years of her life.

We're Still Talking About "My Family's Slave"

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Japanese Americans Exiled In Utah

This week's podcast extra from Code Switch: Japanese Americans who avoided internment camps in the second world war. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption

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Chelsea Beck/NPR

Japanese Americans Exiled In Utah

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, entirely by, essentially, self-exiling. Code Switch correspondent Karen Grigsby Bates talks with research historian Diana Tsuchida, about the hidden history of Japanese Americans who survived by creating farming communities, like the one in Keetley, Utah. We also hear directly from survivors about life as internally displaced American citizens.

Japanese Americans Exiled In Utah

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Master of None's Alan Yang Unpacks Season 2

Alan Yang is the co-creator of the Netflix show Master of None, which recently released its second season. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption

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Chelsea Beck/NPR

Master of None's Alan Yang Unpacks Season 2

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 series that stepped comfortably out of the usual TV comfort zones. Master of None just premiered an already beloved second season, and Yang talks about making bold creative choices, crafting inclusive stories, and writing complex characters with an Asian American lead at the center of it all.

Master of None's Alan Yang Unpacks Season 2

Listen · 23:35
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The Blessing (And Curse?) Of Miss Saigon

This week Shereen welcomes Kat Chow who spoke to David Henry Hwang, J.J. Briones and some theater experts about the controversial show and its role in both creating and limiting roles for Asian American actors. Cornelia Li for NPR hide caption

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Cornelia Li for NPR

The Blessing (And Curse?) Of Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon has returned to Broadway. When the hit musical was first performed was controversial for its stereotypes and story and casting choices. Shereen is joined by teammate Kat Chow to explore Miss Saigon's journey in 2017.

The Blessing (And Curse?) Of Miss Saigon

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Talking Black-ish With Star Yara Shahidi And Creator Kenya Barris

Kenya Barris is the executive producer of the family comedy Blackish and Shahidi plays Zoe, the eldest daughter in the Johnson family. There are hopes for a spin-off starring Shahidi's character going off to college. Meanwhile, Barris is piloting a few other TV shows for the fall-- including a comedy starring Felicity Huffman and Courtney B. Vance. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption

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Talking Black-ish With Star Yara Shahidi And Creator Kenya Barris

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 felt pressure to explain cultural jokes. Yara breaks down ways Gen Z is ahead of the rest of us. Plus, they preview a possible spin-off!

Talking Black-ish With Star Yara Shahidi And Creator Kenya Barris

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The LA Unrest (Or Riots) 25 Years Later

This week's podcast extra from Code Switch: Voices from the LA Riots 25 years later. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption

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Chelsea Beck/NPR

The LA Unrest (Or Riots) 25 Years Later

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 prominent black pastor who gave a memorable sermon to his South LA congregation. Oh, and we tag in our play cousins Mandalit Del Barco and David Greene for this one.

The LA Unrest (Or Riots) 25 Years Later

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John Leguizamo, Still In Search Of John Leguizamo

John Leguizamo in Latin History For Morons at The Public Theater, his sixth one-man show. Joan Marcus/©2016 Joan Marcus hide caption

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Joan Marcus/©2016 Joan Marcus

John Leguizamo, Still In Search Of John Leguizamo

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 Latino identity through his own family and old New York neighborhoods for decades. Audie interviewed Leguizamo in New York during the current run of his latest one-man show, Latin History For Morons. Now a father, Leguizamo struggles with what he knows and what he can teach his son and daughter about being Latino in the U.S., while challenging himself to be the dad he'd always wanted his own father to be.

John Leguizamo, Still In Search Of John Leguizamo

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Mailbag! Listener Questions and Comments That Got Us Thinking

Code Switch answers your burning questions. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption

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Chelsea Beck/NPR

Mailbag! Listener Questions and Comments That Got Us Thinking

Shereen and Gene tackle listeners' reactions to recent episodes. One wants to know the difference between Persian and Iranian. (It's complicated.) Another wants more details about the risks to churches for becoming sanctuaries. (We asked a lawyer.) And a professor gave us a "loving critique" of our episode on Native hunting rights and sovereignty. (Thank you.) Plus a special call-out to the racial imposter in you.

Mailbag! Listener Questions and Comments That Got Us Thinking

Listen · 24:19
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How One Inmate Changed The Prison System From The Inside

This week's podcast extra from Code Switch: NPR correspondent Joseph Shapiro recalls a prison inmate whose work forged the modern prisoners' rights movement. Chelsea Beck/NPR hide caption

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How One Inmate Changed The Prison System From The Inside

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 1970s. Sostre died a free man in 2015. But he spent at least nine years of his life in solitary confinement, including in the notorious Attica prison. Today, Sostre's life and pioneering prisoners' rights work is largely hidden from the public.

How One Inmate Changed The Prison System From The Inside

Listen · 11:43
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The Beef Over Native American Hunting Rights

The Nez Perce tribe faces strong opposition from some who see the hunting rights extended to them as unfair and out of sync with modern life. Vertyr/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption

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Vertyr/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Beef Over Native American Hunting Rights

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 some who see these rights as unfair and out of sync with modern life.

The Beef Over Native American Hunting Rights

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