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Code Switch

Code Switch

By: NPR
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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.

Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Code Switch.Copyright 2015-2026 NPR - For Personal Use Only Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Our Ancestors Were Messy: a Black history comedy show

    Our Ancestors Were Messy: a Black history comedy show
    Aug 21 2026
    In 1775, half a million enslaved people had to pick a side in a war between two groups of white men who both claimed to want freedom. In this live episode of Our Ancestors Were Messy, friend of the show, Nichole Hill takes B.A. Parker and Gene Demby through the choices one man made – from a South Carolina plantation, to the British lines, to Nova Scotia, to Sierra Leone. It's a choose-your-own-adventure through history where there are no great options.

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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Trump is demanding English — while defunding ESL

    Trump is demanding English — while defunding ESL
    Aug 18 2026
    Last year President Trump made English the official language of the United States. Then his administration moved to zero out the federal money that teaches it. But even fully funded, those programs reached fewer than five-percent of the 25 million adults in this country still learning English. Code Switch producer Xavier Lopez watched his own parents struggle to learn the language when he immigrated here as a kid. Now, Xavier reports on how adult English language classes are about much more than learning the English.

    Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

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    34 mins
  • Jay-Z has F-you money. Is he saying it to the wrong people?

    Jay-Z has F-you money. Is he saying it to the wrong people?
    Aug 14 2026
    Jay-Z says he's a business, man. He sold out Yankee Stadium for three nights, and used the stage to answer everyone calling him a sellout. The billionaire released the 30th-anniversary edition of his debut album about hustling his way to independence as a Target exclusive in the middle of a boycott many Black organizers say never ended. We dig into how this is what Jay-Z has been selling his whole career -- it’s how Black excellence and Black capitalism get fed to us as the same thing.

    Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

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    31 mins
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