Timothy Pate

Ta-Nehisi Coates follows up his blockbuster article from The Atlantic with an equally stellar conversation with Chris Hayes on MSNBC.

The point should be made again and again: white supremacy is not a club which requires a card for membership. White supremacy is a pervasive mode of operation that has poisoned American politics and society from the start, and the current president used its power masterfully to get elected.

The pushback against Jemele Hill, the ESPN anchor who called President Trump a white supremacist, is largely couched in the belief that one can only be a white supremacist by outwardly claiming the title. And while klansmen and neo-Nazis are white supremacists, non-members still have the propensity for white supremacy — for which Coates lays out the indicators beautifully.

Here’s to calling a spade a spade.