| Mark Bowden
Author
Announcer: Boeing presents another in a series of essays from
contemporary opinion leaders. Today, journalist and author
of Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden.
Mr. Mark Bowden: Many years ago, as a young reporter, I spent
a few weeks in Lusaka, Zambia.
Zambia was then ruled by a relatively benevolent dictator
named Kenneth Kaunda. All newspapers, magazines, and TV stations
in that country were devoted to one thing, recording day by
day the magnificent life and works of … you guessed it,
Kenneth Kaunda. I asked a young Zambian official I met why
his government practiced censorship.
“Tomorrow one hundred men with rifles could overthrow
this government,” he said. “Why should we allow
our enemies to recruit supporters right under our noses?”
At that time in Zambia, there was just one voice – that
of the dictator. It’s a prescription for disaster. A
society doesn’t thrive, adapt, and grow until it hears
all of its voices. In a new and fragile country, this involves
risk, a risk our Founding Fathers were wise enough to take.
In a democracy, every voice matters, and every voice adds
to our understanding.
This is one reason why I find it so rewarding to participate,
with other writers, in Operation Homecoming, the National Endowment
for the Arts effort to encourage and coach America’s
soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines to write about their
experiences. This unique literary program is aimed at preserving
stories and reflections of American troops. In effect, to capture
their history in their voice ?— in the spirit of democracy.
Those I—ve met through Operation Homecoming share stories;
some sad, some proud, some hopeful. But all their own.
Operation Homecoming gives our troops the tools and mentoring
to write. But, it’s our democracy that allows them to
speak— in voices distinctly American.
Announcer: Boeing. Forever new frontiers.
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