The first question in Thursday night’s discussion about American racism is about “The Talk.” As moderator Kristen Welker tells both the 63 million viewers nationwide and the two white men running for president of the United States, this is the training black parents put their children through for survival. She says accurately that they feel they have no choice but to tell their kids that people outside their door — including and especially the police — may target them solely because they are black. There are certain behaviors to learn that may mitigate the risk of harm, but even those are no guarantee. “The Talk” is a regretful and in fact horrifying feature of black life, but it is so instinctual that it no longer requires explanation. Were I ever to have children one day, I have the script ready.
Yet I use this space to describe it not because Welker did a poor job. (Quite the opposite, and I say that for the entire evening.) No, it’s because white parents may be wholly unfamiliar with “The Talk.” This is why, when Welker asks Joe Biden and Donald Trump to speak to black families who have to deliver this kind of instruction to their children, the answer does not demand their eloquence or expertise.
However, Trump has never been terribly concerned with what black people need or want. After Biden answers Welker’s question capably, acknowledging his privilege and pledging to fight institutional racism, Trump avoids it entirely. Instead, he begins listing his trifling resumé of black uplift, all while claiming the same lie: that outside of Abraham Lincoln, possibly, “nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump.” The truth is that while there have been arguably more racist presidents — at least 12 presidents enslaved black people, folks; let’s not do this — I could scarcely conceive of one who has been more patronizing to us.
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