This episode of Fresh Air Weekend explores press freedom and the weaponization of fear. Filmmaker Julia Loktev discusses her documentary, "My Undesirable Friends, Part One, Last Air in Moscow," which follows independent Russian journalists leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the criminalization of dissent and the journalists' resilience. Historian Heather Ann Thompson examines the 1984 Bernhard Goetz subway shooting and its lasting impact on American society, arguing that the case marked a turning point where white racial fear was sanctioned and leveraged by elites. Thompson connects this event to contemporary examples, such as the killing of Trayvon Martin, emphasizing the racial through-line and the normalization of public violence.
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