Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness — broad, wholesome, charitable views of peoples cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime (Mark Twain). But, if you ignore the customs and avoid interacting with the people, you might as well stay at home (James Michener). Inculcated experiences are the most effective means by which one gains wisdom.
I have visited 30 countries, and spent extensive time in seven. I spent nearly two years in Spain; and twice a year for four consecutive years, I conducted character development programs in Lithuania, which had been under Russian despotism for fifty years.
Spain, when I was there, was a “fascistized dictatorship,” was ruled by Francisco Franco, a devotee of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. Franco had singled out the Catalonians for cultural annihilation, which included political purges, economic repression, imprisonments, and extra judicial executions, often triggered by mere use of Catalonian cultural artifacts instead of those of the designated culture, Castilian. My base was in the heart of Catalonia.
When I started college on the base, my Spanish language professor was Castilian, as was her husband, an officer in the Spanish Air Force. He and I became friends and had extensive conversations in Spanish when we worked the same shift. I also became good friends with young Spanish Airmen; and quite often, I accompanied them on visits to their homes and communities outside Catalonia. Miss Scott, my high school Spanish teacher taught us Castilian (Pure) Spanish and did it so well that I was often mistaken for an Afro-Spaniard or Morisco.
It was in the streets, especially in Catalonia, where my education in political science, sociology, psychology, and international relations began, prior to enrolling in college classes. Interactions outside Catalonia gave me cross-cultural, regional, and comparative material. I had already learned a great deal about Classical American Racism, even in the Air Force, during my first two years in the “America” outside Roanoke, VA’s Black community. Because of the cultural power of my community, Classical Racism had little direct impact in my early life. The few whites I saw on a regular basis were respectful to my elders and were positive influencers in my life, especially Jake and Victoria Saker, in whose grocery store I worked starting when I was 11 years-old.
First Spain and Now America
Through my experiences in Spain, I had ascertained the negative outcomes of Fascism before I fully comprehended the undergirding concept. The knowledge I acquired gave me an early and clear perspective on America’s move toward Fascism, as well as an understanding of what will happen to our despot’s primary targets under Trumpism. America’s move toward Fascism, as opposed to simple racism, misogyny, classism, religious bigotry, and heteropatriarchy was evident by 2007 when Trump started after Obama using the “birther” subterfuge.
America’s leaders — surely much smarter than I was at 20, with their college degrees and political acumen — should have seen at least by 2007 that America was headed toward Fascism, and with their immense power and deep intrenchment in the political system, should have implemented stopgap measures.
When a nation morphs into Fascism, one will see the cancellation of democratic freedoms; the coercion and prohibition of all political parties except the despot’s; attacks against free press; the imposition of a single national culture; and persecution of minority groups and “enemies.”
Oppressed people fare considerably worse under Fascism than in even Flawed Democracies, although they may think that things cannot get worse. There is increasing evidence that descendants of America’s slaves, for example, will be singled out for direct harm. Even if that is not the “formal” case, any form of incompetence, misfeasance, malfeasance, or good intentions gone awry, causes the people at the bottom great harm. Descendants of America’s Slave Class are more easily identifiable Pariahs than were Franco’s and Hitler’s enemies.
However, as Langston Hughes said, “Fascism is a new name for that kind of terror the Negro has always faced in America. This kind of terrorism is extending more and more to groups of peoples whose skins are not black.” The largest number of Americans benefiting from welfare programs are white.
Even if gaslighted people get more desperate and impatient for the largesse Fascist political leaders promised and can’t fulfill, they are not likely to rise in a mighty grassroots tidal wave and openly oppose their deceivers. They are more likely to turn on each other and the despot’s designated enemies. Chaos benefits Fascist’s objectives.
I fear that by the time enough of Trump’s supporters with buyers’ remorse, who are at heart advocates for Democratic Principles, along with the 111 million 2024 self-disenfranchisers, are intrepid enough to demonstrate their discomfiture at the polls, i.e., the 2026 Midterms, it may be too late to save America from becoming a FASCISTIZED DICTATORSHIP.
