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Pictures of Black people as apes are among the most damaging racist tropes in Western history. It is anything but a harmless insult or crude joke. The comparison has functioned for centuries as a tool of dehumanization of Black people in order to justify enslavement, colonial domination, segregation and violence.
When this imagery resurfaces in modern political discourse, especially when directed at prominent Black figures such as Barack and Michelle Obama, it cannot be understood in isolation. It draws its power and meaning from this long, brutal and traumatizing historical lineage.
History reveals dehumanization served a clear purpose. If Black people could be seen as less than fully human or more animal than person, then slavery could be defended as natural, even benevolent. Violence could be framed as discipline rather than cruelty.
After emancipation, the trope did not disappear. Instead, it adapted to new social conditions. During the Jim Crow era, depictions of Black people as simian were common in political cartoons, advertisements and entertainment. These images reinforced the idea that Black Americans were inherently uncivilized and therefore unfit for equal citizenship, helping to rationalize segregation, disenfranchisement and lynching.
Do you get what I’m saying here?
It is within this historical context that Trump’s decision to share a social media post depicting the Obamas as apes during Black History Month must be understood. The act was not simply offensive because it insulted a political opponent or former president. It was offensive because it activated one of the most historically violent forms of racial dehumanization in American culture. Regardless of intent, such imagery carries meanings that are not ambiguous. Yes, it is unquestionably racist. To pretend it isn’t racist is to literally bury your head in the sand, hoping that you don’t see it and therefore making it not true.
The fact that the targets were the Obamas is significant. They represent Black achievement, political authority and global visibility — the epitome of Black success despite the social barriers. They directly challenge the racial hierarchies that the ape trope was designed to uphold.
Moreover, Trump’s use of the trope signals to supporters and observers alike that this kind of speech and symbolism are acceptable in public life. If you are one who disagrees with this notion, you should speak up loudly and denounce this behavior. Silence is complicity.
But let us be clear: Trump posting that racist image was done to distract us from this administration’s poor decisions. It is a distraction from the bombing of boats in the Caribbean. It is a distraction from ICE’s detaining immigrants at asylum hearings because they are Black or brown. A distraction from the killing of American citizens when they exercise their First Amendment right to protest. It is a distraction from the latest tranche of the Epstein files, in which references to Trump appear more than 38,000 times, according to The New York Times.
Ultimately, pictures of Black people as apes are not relics of a distant past. They are living symbols whose meaning has been shaped by centuries of oppression. When they reappear in modern political discourse, it reminds us that racism does not operate only through policy or ideology. It also operates through images, symbols and narratives that quietly reaffirm who is seen as fully human and who is not.
Recognizing and confronting these symbols is not about political correctness. It is about historical accountability and the ongoing struggle for human dignity.•
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Black is former deputy chairwoman for engagement for the Indiana Democratic Party and a former candidate for the Indiana House. Send comments to [email protected].
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