every precious ideal must be reiterated

In the wake of the election, we must resist the slightest extension in the boundaries of what is right and just. PHOTOGRAPH BY LIVIO MANCINI / REDUX / COURTESY OF THE NEW YORKER

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in the The New Yorker:

Now is the time to remember that, in a wave of dark populism sweeping the West, there are alternative forms. Bernie Sanders’s message did not scapegoat the vulnerable. Obama rode a populist wave before his first election, one marked by a remarkable inclusiveness. Now is the time to counter lies with facts, repeatedly and unflaggingly, while also proclaiming the greater truths: of our equal humanity, of decency, of compassion. Every precious ideal must be reiterated, every obvious argument made, because an ugly idea left unchallenged begins to turn the color of normal. It does not have to be like this.