Shortly after George Floyd died Memorial Day weekend in 2020, people began to say that what was happening in the United States or some resemblance to what happened in China 50 years ago, the Cultural Revolution, with Red Guards and

Struggle Sessions, public humiliation, public atonements, a kind of secular

frenzy that looked very much like a hate-centered religious right.

The Cultural Revolution.

But was that overstatement?

Well, she Van Fleet has seen both. She's Chinese. She was seven years old in 1966 when the Cultural Revolution started,

and 17 when it ended with Mao's death in 1976. And along the the way she became one of its victims.

She moved to this country to Kentucky in 1986 and she's been here ever since.

So she has seen both revolutions firsthand and she's written a new book comparing them with a warning.

It's called Mao's America and we're grateful to have her, Shevan Fleet, in the studio with us now.

She thanks so much for coming on.

Thank you.

This is unbelievable that I'm here with you.

Oh, I'm so grateful you are.

So you were seven years old when the

when what was the equivalent of first grade when what was the moment that you realized something strange and important was happening in China yes to me my memory is it happened overnight.

And overnight, I just noticed there's a lot of

what's called big character posters everywhere.

It's just big pieces of paper and with words written in very large letters so everyone can read it from distance.

Kind of like today's social media.

Crude propaganda.

Yes, it's really the posters is really of people denouncing others.

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