In the fall of 2025, two University of Texas seniors revived a long-disbanded campus counterculture magazine called The Rag. The Rag's original iteration began in 1966. For a little more than a decade, the student-led magazine critiqued and wrote satire related to campus and federal government. This, during a time when the Vietnam War created social upheaval on college campuses across the US, including UT-Austin. In this episode, The Drag's Keana Saberi brings us the publication's creation story, which is one spurred by activism but also mired by tragedy.

On the evening of April 16, 1960, a young woman from McAllen, Texas named Irene Garza went to church for confession. She never returned home. A week later, her body was found floating in a canal. Decades would pass before the priest who murdered Irene was brought to justice in a historic case for the church and the Rio Grande Valley.

In Season five of "Darkness," host Talisa Treviño details the decades-long fight for justice for Irene. Hear from the investigators who tackled the case and Irene's loved ones, as well as survivors of abuse in the Catholic church.

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After a federal court ordered the immediate integration of Mansfield High School, white segregationists blocked the front of the high school, threatening anyone challenging them. Part two of this series, written by Khiry Duffey and hosted by Terrance Thomas, shares what happened that day in Mansfield and how it helped shape events that would happen in Little Rock, Arkansas, the following year. And Mansfield Historian Christopher Ohan delves into the lasting impression the story of 1950s Mansfield holds with city residents today.

In 1955, Mansfield ISD was still segregated, despite the Brown v. Board of Education ruling the year prior. It was a small town, heavily divided by race, just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. In the first part of a two-part series, Khiry Duffey shares the story of Clifford Davis and Floyd Moody, two people who were critical in the efforts to desegregate the school.

On January 1, 2024, Texas Senate Bill 17 went into effect. Its purpose was to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and initiatives at all Texas public institutions, resulting in the closure of UT Austin's Division of Campus and Community Engagement and other programs and departments accused of promoting DEI efforts. The bill's aim is to remove "special benefits" for students based on race, gender, and economic status. In this episode, we hear from UT students, former staff, and alumni about the effects of this bill and plans to challenge it.

Registering to vote can be tricky, especially because Texas is one of eleven states that doesn't have online voter registration. The deadline to register to vote in Texas is October 7, and the deadline to request an absentee ballot is October 25. In this episode, Sofia Vargas Karam walks through some of the difficulties of registering to vote in Texas.

Voting resources:

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/21/texas-voter-guide-2024-election/

https://www.aclutx.org/en/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-voting-rights#s2

https://lwvaustin.org/Voter-Registration#gsc.tab=0 – 512-451-6710

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://movetexas.org/

Read Sofia's essay about her voting experience: https://civicsutexas.org/first-time-voter/

In part two of this two-part series, Aislyn Gaddis looks at the larger context of the systems in place that allowed Fred Harris' death, and similar tragedies, to happen – from the state of the Harris County Jail to the laws in place that contribute to the jail's conditions.

Fred Harris, a 19-year-old with special needs, was murdered in the Harris County Jail in 2021. Fred's killer was sentenced to 50 years in prison, but Fred's mother is still demanding justice for her son. She claims the justice system failed him. In part one of this two-part series, Aislyn Gaddis shares the story of Fred Harris' life and death.