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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
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Code Switch

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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

Family, fortune, and the fight for Osage headrights

Richard Lonsinger at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, holding a photo of himself as a child shortly after he was adopted. Sam Yellowhorse Kesler/NPR hide caption

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Sam Yellowhorse Kesler/NPR

Family, fortune, and the fight for Osage headrights

When Richard J. Lonsinger's birth mother passed away in 2010, he wasn't included in the distribution of her estate. Feeling hurt and excluded, he asked a judge to re-open her estate, to give him a part of one particular asset: an Osage headright. But the more Lonsinger learned about the history of the headrights, the more he began to wonder who was really entitled to them, and where he fit in.

Family, fortune, and the fight for Osage headrights

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From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50
Islen Milien for NPR

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50

For hip-hop's not-official-but-kind-of-official 50th birthday, we dig into its many contradictions. From the legend of the South Bronx block party where hip-hop was born to the multi-billion-dollar global industry and tool for U.S. diplomacy it has become, America's relationship with hip-hop — and the people who make it — is complicated.

From 'fight the power' to advertising for the power: hip-hop turns 50

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Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons
Thumy Phan for NPR

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most popular tabletop role-playing games of all time. But it has also helped cement some ideas about how we create and define race in fantasy — and in the tangible world. This week we revisit a deep dive into that game. What we find about racial stereotypes and colonialist supremacy is illuminating.

Rolling the dice on race in Dungeons & Dragons

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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

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Dial Press/Penguin Random House/Riverhead Books

Summer reading: Let's keep it casual

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

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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

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Kyle Ellingson for NPR

This right wing conspiracy theory about eating bugs is about as racist as you think

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

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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

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Dan Carino/LAist

Is "home" still home after 30 years away?

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?

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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

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Kristen Uroda for NPR

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

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

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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

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Courtesy of B.A.Parker

Going back to the plantation where my ancestors were enslaved

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

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How do descendants of slavery honor their ancestors' legacy?

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

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B.A. Parker/NPR

How do descendants of slavery honor their ancestors' legacy?

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?

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

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

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

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