Attica Locke on the US election: ‘It’s white Americans that have to fix this’ | Attica Locke

Did part of the distress come from seeing that Trump had such a wide suppoRT?
What it taught you is the power of white supremacy, that it is so intense and insidious, and its power is its unconsciousness. Because you have people who have mixed families, who have Black friends at work, people who like Beyoncé – but yet, the idea of ​​whiteness needing to be centered was so strong that you’ve come up with all these other reasons why Trump is a fit, and you’ve ignored the craziness and lies.

How do you feel about November? Do you think Kamala Harris can win?
Anyone can throw tomatoes at me and I’m not saying don’t vote hard and fight, fight, fight, but I don’t think it’s as close as it’s being reported to be. I think a lot of American reporting about politics has just fallen in love with horse-race talk. But I’m holding out a deep, deep faith – because otherwise, how would I get up in the morning? – that they don’t actually have the numbers for that level of crazy and hatred.

In Guide Me Home, Darren reflects on how exhausted he is with fighting racism and corruption, and wishes that white people would step in to do some of the work. Is that how you feel?
It’s been very tiring to wait for people to wake up. And I was expressing through Darren a feeling that I have had, which is however many people fight, it is white Americans that have to fix this. The people who are voting for Trump aren’t going to listen to me. They may listen to their cousins. They may listen to people at their church. But they’re not going to listen to us. So at a certain point, it is kind of: y’all fix this. Y’all got this fool in here, get us back on track.

Do you think they are waking up?
I feel like there has been a wellspring of support and realization, because we are at the cliff’s edge of democracy, and I’m seeing people from all walks of life rolling up their sleeves and understanding what’s at stake.

Guide Me Home features a dystopic and terrifying corporate town, which controls every aspect of its residents’ lives in return for very basic welfare and healthcare. Do you think that’s happening in the United States?
I don’t think we’re literally where Thornhill is, but what is happening is our acquiescence, our acceptance of the marketplace filling in where the government won’t. That, I think, is real now: people’s despair to be cared for by someone, and if it’s not going to be the government, then let it be this company.

Darren has to contend with political, institutional and personal threats in these books, but they do, ultimately, feel hopeful. Are you?
You can’t ever fix or fight what you can’t name. I think the hope would be the realization for a Trump supporter that it’s not an immigrant that’s doing anything to you. It’s a different system. And the reason why you don’t want people coming here and taking resources is because the resources are so scarce. It’s because you’re getting so little from your government.

I don’t know that in my lifetime all of the capitalist system is going to be dismantled, but there is both rage and clarity in seeing it. It makes you angry, but it also makes you feel less crazy. So there’s rage and clarity. I’m gonna put that on a T-shirt!

As well as fiction, you work on screenplays and in production. Is the variety stimulating?
I’m very blessed that I have these two skill sets, and I do very much enjoy writing for television. It’s a different way of being alive, because one is so lonely and intense, and one is like fireworks going off and just fun and excitement. Louder, but a tone of fun.

And you’ve recently started working with your sister?
We didn’t know if we would kill each other or what would happen. And it just turns out we’re really a great partnership. What a wonderful thing to discover late in life.