Gabriel Mahia

In a world rife with alarmist headlines and political hyperbole, the echoes of history often whisper the hard-earned lessons of the past. It's time to tune into those whispers before they become roars. They say history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. And in the cadence of these rhymes, lies a rhythm that can either be a lullaby or a battle cry—this is where Timothy Snyder comes in, tapping his foot to the ominous beat that reverberates through the annals of time into the heart of today's America. We laugh to keep from crying, don’t we? Richard Pryor would have set the stage alight, jesting that America is on that strange diet of democracy and tyranny—it's just hard to stomach. Pryor knew, as did Mark Twain before him, that beneath the laughter lay the sharp edge of truth, the kind that slices through pretense to reveal the raw, tender flesh of reality. And so we march on, carrying the torch of Snyder’s wisdom as if it were our daily bread. We wake, we work, ...

On a same-day visit to both the Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), my world view shifted dramatically. The urgency of history, coupled with the current political climate and social unrest, compelled me to write. The time for complacency is over; it's time to engage, learn, and act. When you walk through the halls of the Holocaust Museum, you're not just learning about Nazi Germany; you're walking through a corridor of humanity's potential for darkness. Likewise, the NMAAHC isn't merely a recounting of Black America's past; it's a testament to the strength and resilience of a community that has faced—and continues to face—structural barriers. If Timothy Snyder's guide to safeguarding democracy offers us anything, it's a brutal yet necessary reminder: democracy is fragile, even in America. Start by doing something simple yet effective: read. Just 20 minutes a day can open your eyes to the breadth ...