The Conversation

The First White President

In October, Ta-Nehisi Coates argued that Donald Trump’s presidency is predicated nearly entirely on white supremacy and the negation of a black president.

I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’s fascinating article. I found it convincing. I am white. Now what?

I already am angry with police treatment of people who are less white than me. I can vote for Democrats, I guess, but will that solve anything?

I’m sure I’m not the only person who enjoys the not entirely earned privilege of not-being-feared-but-instead-respected-by-authority and who would rather see a world where people rise solely in proportion to their merit. I want to live in a civilization of open and honest rules that we all have to follow, but is that possible? I doubt that it is, but I still want to bang on in that direction.

My question for Mr. Coates is this: If you were writing to someone you no longer needed to convince, if the arguments were all done with, what would you have him do?

James Bach

Thank you, Mr. Coates, for exposing what I saw while canvassing for Hillary Clinton in Nevada. The election wasn’t about the economically bereaved. The poor white potential voters I encountered held neither Clinton nor Donald Trump in high regard. They were in such despair about their future that they were giving