“Feel invited to act. This is dark stuff, I know—but better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”
The above quote belongs to Dr. David Bassano: an award-winning author, human rights advocate and professor, here, at Brookdale.
It was the final line of his “Tedx” talk, covering the injustices the indigenous people of Chiapas face at the hands of Mexican police. The talk is just one of many examples of Bassano’s commitment to his work, and to the betterment of others.
Beginning his career at the early age of 14, in Vineland, he wrote letters to political and public figures for Amnesty International, a human rights NGO based in the United Kingdom.
“Sometimes I sent letters to [Fidel] Castro, addressed by name. My mom would say, ‘don’t give Castro the return address,’” he joked.
His early involvement would later inform his decision to enter higher education.
“When I was going to go to grad school, I was looking for what I should take up. I decided to study the history of human rights, which at the time almost no one was studying.”
Bassano would go on to earn his doctorate in May of 2012 from “SUNY Albany in international, global, and comparative history,” according to his “Academia” page. He specialized, of course, in the history of human rights.
“I wanted to actually go and see what was happening with my own eyes—which really changed things,” he said, describing what drew him to begin traveling to the countries he had only previously read about.
Bassano, already having history with human rights organizations, began traveling to other countries, conducting interviews and advocating for the people suffering abuses there. He would act as their voice.
“What changes things is when you meet people and it goes from theory to personal. When you meet people, it’s not corruption or this or that. It’s Juan and Maria. You’ve had lunch with them. You know these guys. You don’t want anything bad to happen to them.”
These experiences acted as a way for Bassano to get his foot in the door, more work with human rights NGOs begot more work with other groups. He travelled to places like Chiapas and even Kyiv during the current war.
His experience then informed his writing and speaking work. An anthology fiction novel about “wandering through Mexico,” a Tedx talk about injustice in Chiapas, an article about life in wartime Kyiv, even a few textbooks, one of which, “World History Since 1945,” has been integrated into Brookdale history coursework since 2023.
This all coincided with his work in the history department at Brookdale.
“I came and interviewed in 2012. Ashley Zampogna-Krug and I were hired at the same time. We both wanted the same job, and the administration at the time said, ‘Tell you what, you guys are losing a lot of people,’ because they had a lot of old-timers there, ‘why don’t you just hire both of them?’”
Today Bassano teaches many classes at Brookdale, including one focused on Latin American history.
For his next international trip, Bassano is planning a leisurely safari through Tanzania.
“Last trip was to Ukraine; this one is just going to be for pleasure this time. No missiles—I hope,’ he quipped.
As for today and onward, Bassano wants Brookdale to know “just how happy I am to be here at Brookdale to talk about all this stuff: history, human rights, and Latin American history. I feel very very fortunate to be here at Brookdale and have this job; it’s the greatest good luck that I’ve ever had.”
