Heather Ann Thompson

Trump had tried to run for president.

He had switched parties so many times.

He courted the Reagan White House.

He courted Bill Clinton.

He understood that he needed a national presence, so thus the apprentice, thus being on WWE wrestling.

He understood all of that.

But what he really understood—

was that the Obama moment could be his moment if he stoked those flames exactly right.

Well, I think from the beginning it has very much shaped who I am as a historian because, as you mentioned, I was a kid growing up in a city that was literally reviled by the nation and, frankly, the world.

Detroit had been dubbed the murder capital of the world historically.

And that was it, right?

There was no other questions.

I can remember, you know, any time I would talk to white folks that didn't live in the city, it was always, how can you live there?

Don't you feel scared?

Do you carry a weapon?

And there was such a disconnect for me growing up with the city that I knew, the school that I went to, the neighborhood that I grew up in, everybody who I knew who was

making the city in a pretty extraordinary place.

And somehow no one had any idea who that was or what that really looked like.

So from the beginning, I have always tried to think about what are the stories that we are not asking about, we don't hear about, because those are the stories that animate so much of American history.

That's a great question.