Season 7, Episode 1: The Graveyard of Instagram with Rebecca W. Walston and Danielle S. Rueb Castillejo

In this episode, Danielle and Rebecca wrestle with the collapse of the illusion that American democracy was moving steadily toward repair. The conversation begins with Danielle naming the childhood belief that history was on a trajectory of getting better, while Rebecca challenges the idea that the gains of the Civil Rights era were ever as secure as many people assumed. From there, they explore how racism reinvents itself through new language, new targets, and new enforcement mechanisms while preserving the same underlying structure of othering, demonization, and dehumanization.