visual artist hank willis thomas thinks trump actually helps us see america’s problems better

“I feel like one of those weird people who thinks things have never been better. Because if you can’t point at the problem and really see it, you can’t actually address it,” artist Hank Willis Thomas told The Guardian. An off-putting statement at first glance, for sure. But what I think Thomas was getting at is the silver lining of Donald Trump’s belligerence and verbal recklessness. Which, in some ways, might be a great thing for racism, oppression, and the artist who wish to document and react to it because of sheer indefinability.

Never one for tact, where the highest pitch dog whistles used to embed themselves in American politics, Donald Trump has replaced them with blatant KKK-style White Nationalism that is clear even to the #AllLivesMatter crew. What has typically be the racist subtext in politics is now the just the text. This, I believe Thomas is getting at, is a good thing for the long-term progress of social justice.

But what are your thoughts?