Dissention, diversity, the grain of salt and mustard are needed: Fascism does not want them, forbids them, and that’s why you are not a Fascist; it wants everybody to be the same, but you are not.

Primo Levi

Two days ago the Florida state Senate passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which seeks to ban “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in public schools. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) stated he would definitely sign the bill into law. Over the past year, we have seen a frightening increase in efforts at the state level centering on restricting women’s reproductive rights, voting rights, and the rights of the LGBTQ community. We are also witnessing an epidemic of panic over the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the popularity of banning “controversial” books in the classroom such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and Beloved by Toni Morrison.

As I was perusing various Twitter feeds, I couldn’t help but notice that those legislators backing such bills are overwhelmingly white males. Sure, you can include MTG, Lauren Boebert, and Susan Collins among the ranks of conservative Republican lawmakers who tow the party line, but the fact remains that most of our elected officials are white men. And if we judge these men by their actions, they are using legislation to grasp desperately a version of America that is less than diverse.

Now I’m happily married to a white man, and it doesn’t mean that I’m bashing white males. That’s not the point. The point is that the halls of power in the US are overwhelmingly represented by a group that consists of 30% of the US population yet holds 62% of elected positions at both the state and national levels. 

In contrast, women and people of color constitute 51% and 40% of the US population (respectively) but hold just 31% and 13% of offices. In the 2020 primaries, 93% of Republican candidates were white, and fewer than one in four were women. Democratic candidates, however, were 44% women and 32% people of color. As of today, less than 3% of GOP state legislators are people of color compared to 33% percent of Democratic state legislators. 

It is clear that the nation’s growing diversity is not reflected in state or national legislatures. Nationwide, African-Americans, who make up 13% of the U.S. population, account for 9% of state legislators, and Hispanics, who are 17% of the population, account only for 5% of state legislators.

According to the latest Census estimates, nearly four in 10 Americans identify with a non-white race or ethnic group. New census population projections confirm the importance of minorities as the primary demographic engine for future economic growth in the US. These projections show that whites will become a minority population by 2045, comprising 49.7% of the population in contrast to 24.6% Hispanic, 13.1% African American, 7.9% Asians, and 3.8% multiracial.

Is the changing demographic of America a threat to the tradition of white, male-dominated politicians and interests? I ask myself if the recent rise in hate crimes and attacks on minority groups is just an outlying trend or White America’s “cry for help” in maintaining the status quo. 

If history serves, in 1920s Europe, fascism emerged out of fear of the increasing influence of the working class. During this era, liberal and democratic values were oppressed, and diversity was all but stamped out. Under Mussolini, public protests were banned, he declared all political parties illegal except for his own Fascist Party, and labor unions and strikes were outlawed. Just last year, same-sex marriages were outlawed and transgender people were banned from adopting children in Putin’s Russia. Turkey’s Erdogan banned websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia, and Hungary’s Orban passed a 2021 law banning gays from featuring in school educational materials or TV shows for under-18 youth. India, perhaps the world’s biggest democracy passed a law in 2019 that limits voting rights for Muslims, India’s largest minority group.

Some may scold me for likening the latest wave of attacks on equality and diversity as emerging fascism, however, fascists do historically have a habit of attacking these very things. As a result, if a political system does not allow for new voices and varied perspectives, it serves only the interests of those in power.