Why history repeats

​“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  We’ve all heard some version of this quote. But I’ve been thinking: is it really about remembering history—or understanding it?  I think it is the latter. 

Let’s take Adolf Hitler, for example. Most people can tell you he was a dictator responsible for the Holocaust. But fewer understand how he rose to power—or that he was never actually elected by the German people. Hell, most don't even know how many people were murdered in the Holocaust (it was 70-85 million people. I had to look it up.)

So, if Hitler wasn't elected, how did he gain power?  On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg. Weeks later, after the suspicious Reichstag fire, Hitler used fear of a socialist uprising to push through the “Decree for the Protection of People and State,” which suspended civil liberties and enabled surveillance, property seizures, and arrests—primarily targeting political opponents. Hmmm, that was basically an executive order, right?

By March, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, giving Hitler full legislative powers and dismantling democracy in Germany. After Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler declared himself Führer. Hmmm, that sounds similar to the U.S. Supreme Court giving a president immunity, doesn't it? 

So how did a nation fall to tyranny? Not through majority support—but through fear, manipulation, executive orders, and most chillingly, silence. A small, organized minority carried out Hitler’s vision while the majority watched, waited, or turned away. In other words, they were asleep. They were not… woke.

That’s the real lesson.

History doesn’t repeat itself because we forget—it repeats when we fail to truly understand and act on what it teaches us. We neglect to recognize when it is repeating. And good people remain asleep.

Today, the American people did not vote to challenge the Constitution or defy a Supreme Court ruling. They didn’t vote for that—just as the German people did not choose to be ruled by a dictator.

In a time when democracy, justice, and human rights are being tested around the world, this moment calls for courage, clarity, and collective action. And yes, it calls for true wokeness.

Silence is not neutrality. It’s complicity.

Permission to share but not cut and paste. 

Follow me at Frankly Speaking with Adrenne P. Whitaker. Check out my new blog at: http://www.l2lleadershipinstitute.com/frankly-speaking-blog

And, stay tuned for my book: Beneath the Bayan Tree: A Family’s Legacy of Resistance, Freedom, Preserversnce.

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