Part One:
We speak with John Nichols, who writes for The Nation, The Progressive, and In These Times, about his interview of Keith Ellison, Attorney General of Minnesota. The interview took place shortly before Ellison was chosen to lead the investigation and prosecution of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Ellison has been deeply involved in issues of public policy in general (as a former member of Congress) and issues of racial injustice and police brutality in particular. He understands the feelings of anger, humiliation and fear that black people have suffered over 400 years of being treated as second-class citizens: slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow segregation, discrimination, invisibility.
At the same time, Ellison is respected by virtually all sides of these issues. He is rational, reasonable, and straightforward. We can expect him to conduct his investigation of this murder –and the larger societal issues that surround it – in a fair and impartial way. We can also expect him to talk us through the process, to explain what he concludes and what evidence led him to reach his conclusions.
One can never be sure, but we hope that he will be able to handle this moment in history in a way that might transform our society in a significant way, to bridge some of the great divides, and to show us all that we have more in common than we have differences.
Part Two:
We talk with Sheldon Solomon, professor of psychology at Skidmore College, and Jeff Greenberg, professor of social psychology at University of Arizona, who developed Terror Management Theory, which is concerned with how humans deal with their awareness of mortality. It is human nature to try to insulate oneself from the unpleasant realization that death comes for all of us eventually, even though we want to continue living.
The coronavirus reminds us that death is inevitable and can come at any time. Being reminded of mortality causes existential fear, and we sustain ourselves with our core values. The terror amplifies these values, both good and bad.
Many people react by wanting to be close only to people who are like themselves (race/ethnicity/religion/world-view), and they feel hostility toward people who are different. Other people react to their fear of death by feeling a closeness to other people, a desire to come together and share in the effort to make the best of their time on earth.
