‘It’s Impossible to Imagine Trump Without the Force of Whiteness'

It was really important. But the burden of whiteness is this: You can live in the world of myth and be taken seriously.

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) December 24, 2014

“The foundation of Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy,” writes Ta-Nehisi Coates in his feature for The Atlantic’s October 2017 issue. In this animated excerpt from a recent interview with Coates about his article, the writer explains how tribalism and white supremacy paved the way for Trump. Gallup research shows that white voters overwhelmingly supported the candidate across demographics.

It really requires people to give up "whiteness," which is not to give up blonde hair or blue eyes, so much as the power attributed to them. pic.twitter.com/0qL6WhSURT

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) September 19, 2017

"The Enduring Solidarity Of Whiteness." https://t.co/UV4cgM2rxH

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) February 8, 2016