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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, November 1, 2025


** America Had a Black President. Then Came the Whitelash.
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** Credit: Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty
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Listen to the episode ([link removed])

It’s been more than a decade since the death of Trayvon Martin, but to many, including myself, it feels like yesterday. I was 16. I remember hearing about his death on CNN, hearing he was only one year older than me, and feeling absolutely chilled to my core.

I remember his picture flashing across my TV screen, looking into his big brown eyes, and seeing my own younger brothers within him.

It was one of the earliest historical events that I can remember that really sucked me into the world of politics and activism. As a Black child living in one of the whitest parts of suburban Virginia, I was certainly not naive to the existence of racism. But the outcry from the Black community that followed Martin’s death, that collective pain and passion, made me believe that we had the power to do something about it.

And I certainly wasn’t the only one who believed this. In 2012, Jelani Cobb was asked to write about Martin’s death, which was just starting to make national headlines. Years later, he’s still hearing the echoes of that moment.

“At the time, I thought of Trayvon as this particularly resonant metaphor. But I didn’t understand that he was actually the start of something much bigger,” says Cobb, now dean of the Columbia Journalism School. The years that followed Martin’s death would be an absolute roller coaster. The Black Lives Matter movement. The death of George Floyd. The rise of the MAGA movement. The election and reelection of Donald Trump.

I think my colleague More To The Story host Al Letson, put it best: “When I look at America, I often think of it as a pendulum. As soon as political power swings in one direction, gravity sends it flying the opposite way.”

On this week’s More To The Story, Letson and Cobb trace the tumultuous throughline from Martin to the rise of white nationalism and reexamine former President Barack Obama’s legacy in the age of Trump.

Check out the full episode ([link removed]) .

—Arianna Coghill

Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and don’t forget to subscribe:
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** An Atrocity of War Goes Unpunished
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Photo Credit: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

In November 2005, a group of US Marines killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

The case against them became one of the most high-profile war crimes prosecutions in US history—but then it fell apart. Only one Marine went to trial for the killings, and all he received was a slap on the wrist. Even his own defense attorney found the outcome shocking.

“It's meaningless," said attorney Haytham Faraj. “The government decided not to hold anybody accountable. I mean, I don't know, I don't know how else to put it.”

The Haditha massacre, as it came to be known, is the subject of the third season of The New Yorker’s In the Dark podcast and this week’s episode of Reveal, which originally aired in March.

Reporter Madeleine Baran and her team spent four years looking into what happened at Haditha and why no one was held accountable. They also uncovered a previously unreported killing that happened that same day, a 25th victim whose story had never before been told.

This week on Reveal ([link removed]) .

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🎧 Other places to listen: Spotify ([link removed]) , Overcast ([link removed]) , iHeartRadio ([link removed]) , or wherever you get your podcasts.
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** In Case You Missed It
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** 🎧 2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together? ([link removed])
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The 2024 election triggered an identity crisis for Democrats. One of the party’s first big tests since Trump’s win is happening in New York City.

Photo Credit: Sam Van Pykeren/Mother Jones

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** 🎧 Exposing a Global Surveillance Empire ([link removed])
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In a major investigation, a young reporter uncovers a powerful technology used to spy on thousands of people across the world.

Photo Credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire/Zuma

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** 🎧 A Midnight Phone Call. A Missing Movie. Decades of Questions. ([link removed])
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Looking for a good mystery this spooky season? You’re in luck, because we’ve got three. On our new occasional series, we’re training our magnifying glasses on small, more personal investigations.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ashley Cleek

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** 🎧 How a Climate Doomsayer Became an Unexpected Optimist ([link removed])
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Environmentalist Bill McKibben on how solar power could slow global warming and help fix the planet’s coming energy crisis.

Photo Credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty

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This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Arianna Coghill and edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

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