Madeleine Albright and Michelle
Obama come from different generations and different continents; however, both
have much in common: notably, overcoming virulent hatred stemming from racism.
Both spoke their truth with undying patriotism to the United States: Ms.
Albright on the international stage as “Madam Secretary” and Ms. Obama on a
national stage from the White House—a house slaves built, her ancestors to be
unambiguous.
Madeleine Albright’s newest
memoir Fascism: A Warning is both a history discourse of
villains, who wrap themselves in the cloak of nationalists, but her
story concerns her own persecution from her native Czechoslovakia. Whether she
is writing about her homeland, Russia, Turkey, the constellations of smaller
satellites that once formed the USSR, or the less developed nations dotting
South America, as well as the Middle East, Albright is clear how political
corruption and vicious manipulation has led to dictators like those in Syria,
North Korea and the Philippines to name but a few.
Ms. Albright’s most poignant
metaphor deals with the attempt to burn to the ground the ethnic hatred that
fed the fascism that shrouded the world’s landscape which the Axis powers
coveted. After WWII ended, she argues that the ideology of hate seemed to be
scorched on the earth’s surface; however, the roots of paranoia run so deep
that after a generation those very seeds begin to break through the crusty
soil. President Truman, she notes, spoke of this, “Hitler is finished, but the
seeds spread by his disordered mind have firm root in too many fanatical
brains.” Her warning is that those ideologies are not only growing, rather they
are in full bloom today. One needs only to look to the tragedy in New
Zealand
this March to see this on horrific display.
Albright contends, Donald Trump is
the latest manifestation of how today’s dictators operate. They begin, as
Hitler and Mussolini did, by stoking the ambers of fear and discontent among
their masses, then slowly they neuter the media and control public discourse.
The judicial system is co-opted or maligned. Any challengers are bullied, and
in the case of the worst of the monsters—imprisoned, made to mysteriously disappear,
or simply boldly assassinated even within embassies existing for their
protection. These so-called presidents have one refrain: they
claim that they alone can save their nation from the invasion of those
who seek to do harm.
Ms. Obama’s memoir is not a
warning—far from it—it is clearly a Becoming. She passionately
writes of the love of her parents, her upbringing on the Southside, her
dedication to a cause worth fighting for and eventually meeting a man of such
capability and ambition that she decides to take a road she feels is wicked and
wondrous: politics. Naturally, her concerns about her children being raised in
such a world concerns her greatly, and make no mistake, she does give witness
to the dangers of being the first Black family to lead our nation. The peril
her family faces equates to the constant security essential to protect her
family and the President. From what you may ask? From the same bigoted
adversaries who have never let go of the Original Sin of racism. Something this
nation has failed to fully come to accept, and from which it has never made
reparations. Above all, Michelle Obama and Madeleine Albright are optimists,
but they remind the reader that turning a blind eye to the evil in the world
does a free society great harm.
Ms. Obama’s most telling moment to
me was the description of the bullet lodged in the impenetrable window of the
First Family’s upstairs living area in the White House. Ms. Obama these windows
never open for good cause. She laments that there is no fresh air.
Even bulletproof glass could not stop Donald Trump, whom she can “never
forgive” for the danger he so thoughtlessly (at best, sinister at worst)
created, as even candidate Obama was under Secret Service protection far before
others since death threats were ever-present. Trump’s ignorant insistence that
Barack Obama was not born in America created countless malevolent conspiracies
all cordoned off under the umbrella of birtherism. Trump,
along with his dutiful messengers at Fox News, conjured a sick lie that put the
Obama’s in harm’s way.
So these two women have a message
for Americans. Beware. Ignorance is not bliss. There is no such thing as alternate
facts; events happened or did not happen. Words were said. Actions
were taken in churches, mosques, and on the streets of Charlottesville. Mr.
Trump’s litany of bullying tactics and ignorance ranged from claiming Mexicans
were murders and rapists; Hispanic federal judges could not render justice;
Muslims needed to be banned from entering our nation (because he saw them
celebrating in New York after 9.11); Africans would never want to go back to
their shithole countries’; there were bad people on both sides
of the riots in Charlottesville; he had no knowledge of David Duke (the Grand
Dragon of the KKK); and anyone who contradicted his opinions were merely
echoing fake news.
In the years before it became
obvious what Hitler’s plans at genocide were, many Germans claimed they
never imagined such a thing was happening. So many Americans
believed that Obama’s election was the sign that a post-racial America had
finally arrived. Despite the 17% increase in hate crime in 2017, far too many
Americans just can’t believe that racial hatred really could be the
catalyst to mass murder, Nazi protests, and white supremacy. Not here. Not now.
Not us.
The antidote is knowledge. However,
the campaign of misinformation, whether it comes from foreign
adversaries or home-grown propaganda is real and threatens our republic and the
civic discourse that makes America the “beacon of freedom.” These two women’s
memoirs should be part of the curriculum in every classroom in the
United States, be it civics, American history, or sociology. This much I know:
their life experiences are anything but fake news.
Robert Pacilio, the 1999 San Diego County “Teacher of the Year,” has authored “Meetings at the Metaphor Cafe” (YA) & “Meet Me a Moonlight Beach” (fiction).
Photo of Ms. Albright: Alex Wong/Getty Image North America
Photo of Ms. Obama: (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
