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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

Everyone from the Tea Party to immigrants rights groups want a piece of Dr. King

Author Hajar Yazdiha (left) wrote about Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy in her book, The Struggle for the People's King (right). PR Agency hide caption

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PR Agency

Everyone from the Tea Party to immigrants rights groups want a piece of Dr. King

Martin Luther King Jr. was relatively unpopular when he was assassinated. But the way Americans of all political stripes invoke his memory today, you'd think he was held up as a hero. In this episode, we talk about the cooptation of King's legacy with Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the People's King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement.

Everyone from the Tea Party to immigrants rights groups want a piece of Dr. King

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What Arkansas' LEARNS Act has to do with race

Code Switch is live on stage in Little Rock, Ark. (right). They interviewed Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton (left) about what it was like to go to school during desegregation efforts in the 1950s and 60s. Dr. Sibyl Jordan Hampton, Little Rock Public Radio hide caption

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Dr. Sibyl Jordan Hampton, Little Rock Public Radio

What Arkansas' LEARNS Act has to do with race

Classrooms in Arkansas were at the center of school desegregation in the 1950s. Now, with the LEARNS Act, they're in the spotlight again. Code Switch comes to you live from Little Rock, Arkansas this week to unpack the latest education bill and how it echoes themes from decades past.

What Arkansas' LEARNS Act has to do with race

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Women of color have always shaped the way Americans eat

Chefs Von Diaz, Mayukh Sen, Reem Assil and Priya Krishna. PR Agency/Designed by NPR hide caption

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PR Agency/Designed by NPR

Women of color have always shaped the way Americans eat

For decades, the ingredients, dishes and chefs that are popularized have been filtered through the narrow lens of a food and publishing world dominated by mostly white, mostly male decision-makers. But with more food authors of color taking center stage, is that changing? In this episode, we dive deep into food publishing, past and present.

Women of color have always shaped the way Americans eat

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These are the episodes we loved in 2023

Clockwise from upper left: B.A.Parker at Somerset Place plantation as a child; Bad Bunny exalts Puerto Rico in his music of resistance; Chefs Reem Assil and Priya Krishna; Race is also a part of our taxes and who gets audited; Originally from Rwanda, Claude Gatebuke came to Nashville 30 years ago; Hank Azaria (left) and Hari Kondabolu speak since their fallout in 2017. B.A.Parker, Getty Images, NPR, Getty Images//LA Johnson/NPR, Joseph Ross for NPR, PR Agency hide caption

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B.A.Parker, Getty Images, NPR, Getty Images//LA Johnson/NPR, Joseph Ross for NPR, PR Agency

These are the episodes we loved in 2023

It's that time of year again, fam, when we look back at the past 12 months and think, "WHOA, HOW'D THAT GO BY SO FAST?" So we're taking a beat: for this week's episode, each one of us who makes Code Switch is getting on the mic to reflect on — and recommend — an episode we loved from 2023.

These are the episodes we loved in 2023

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Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars
Mark Harris for NPR

Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars

The Color Purple remake drops this week and to celebrate, we're bringing you this special episode from our play cousins over at Pop Culture Happy Hour. Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple has been adapted a few times. Next week, the new movie The Color Purple hits theaters – it's based on the Tony-winning musical. The 1985 film is remembered as a fan-favorite centering Black women's lives, but this acclaimed adaptation was received quite differently among female viewers and male viewers. Today, we revisit our episode about the original film from our three-part documentary series Screening Ourselves, which explored films through the lens of representation – and misrepresentation – on screen.

Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars

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This is what "real self-care" looks like

Psychiatrist Pooja Lakshmin next to the cover of her new book, Real Self Care (Crystals, Cleanses and Bubble Baths Not Included.) Courtesy of publisher hide caption

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Courtesy of publisher

This is what "real self-care" looks like

"You can't meditate yourself out of a 40-hour work week with no childcare and no paid sick days," says Dr. Pooja Lakshmin. But when you're overworked and overwhelmed, what can you do? On this episode, host B.A. Parker asks: What are your options when a bubble bath won't cut it?

This is what "real self-care" looks like

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The 'Renaissance' film and what we hear in Beyoncé's silence

Beyoncé on the Renaissance World Tour Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood via Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood via Getty Images

The 'Renaissance' film and what we hear in Beyoncé's silence

We're bringing you an extra treat this week from our play cousins over at It's Been A Minute: In the credits for 'Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé' the Queen Bee makes it clear who is in charge. Written by? Beyoncé. Directed by? Beyoncé. Produced by? Beyoncé. And of course, starring...Beyoncé. For someone who is so in control of their own image, what is spoken and what is unspoken are equally loud.

The 'Renaissance' film and what we hear in Beyoncé's silence

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The world can be painful. But love is possible, too

Author Kai Cheng Thom next to the cover of her recent book, Falling Back in Love with Being Human. Author photo by Rachel Woroner hide caption

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Author photo by Rachel Woroner

The world can be painful. But love is possible, too

Kai Cheng Thom is no stranger to misanthropy. There have been stretches of her life where she's felt burdened by anger, isolation, and resentment toward other people. And not without reason. Her identities, especially as a trans woman and a former sex worker, have frequently made her a locus for other people's fear and hatred. But at a certain point, Kai decided to embark on a radical experiment: to see if she could "fall back in love with being human." The result was a series of letters, poems, exercises and prayers that let Kai confront some of the most painful moments of her life, and then try to move past them.

The world can be painful. But love is possible, too

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Travel is supposed to expand your horizons... but it's complicated

Author Shahnaz Habib next to the cover of her new book, Airplane Mode. Author photo by Eva Garmendia hide caption

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Author photo by Eva Garmendia

Travel is supposed to expand your horizons... but it's complicated

Traveling is supposed to open your mind and expand your horizons — but what if it doesn't? In her new book Airplane Mode, author Shahnaz Habib suggests that sometimes, traveling does more to enforce our ideas about the world than to upend them. Which means that people with "passport privilege" — AKA, the ability to travel freely from country to country — may end up feeling like the stars of some massive international adventure, while people whose travel is more restricted feel like perpetual interlopers.

Travel is supposed to expand your horizons... but it's complicated

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How the history of Leech Lake and Red Lake went down totally different paths

Nate Taylor (left) and Sylvia Fred (right), two of the co-founders of the Endazhi-Nitaawiging Charter School on Red Lake Reservation standing in front of the construction site for a new school building. Sequoia Carrillo/NPR hide caption

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Sequoia Carrillo/NPR

How the history of Leech Lake and Red Lake went down totally different paths

The word "reservation" implies "reserved" – as in, this land is reserved for Native Americans. But most reservation land actually isn't owned by tribes. That's true for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota, where the tribe owns just a tiny fraction of its reservation land. But just northwest of Leech Lake is Red Lake: one of the only reservations in the country where the tribe owns all of its land.

How the history of Leech Lake and Red Lake went down totally different paths

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