Contributor: Black history is also the history of resistance

We’ve heard so many warnings in recent months about the rise of fascism in American culture, but do you remember the provocative words of Toni Morrison on the subject from three decades ago? They spark a different kind of reflection and resistance today. She told us back then that American history reveals the culprits — they’re not just the usual suspects — as well as the secret to prevailing over them.

In March 1995, in a convocation speech at Howard University, the author contended that the descent into fascism “is not a jump,” but “one step, and then another, and then another.” These steps include inventing an enemy to divert attention from more serious matters, tossing ad hominem insults their way, getting media to reinforce the enemy’s degraded status, attacking those sympathet