Why Donald Trump says “the” before “Latinos” and “African Americans”

*How Trump uses language to separate white voters from “others.” VL

By Jenée Desmond-Harris, Vox (5 minute read) 

When Donald Trump talks about black and Latino people, he does something unusual — he uses the word “the” before the names of these racial and ethnic groups.

Here’s what he said Wednesday night during the third and final presidential debate against Hillary Clinton (emphasis added):

We don’t take care of our veterans. We take care of illegal immigrants better than we take care of our military. That can’t happen. Our policemen and women are disrespected. We need law and order, but we need justice too. Our inner cities are a disaster. You get shot walking to the store. They have no education, they have no jobs. I will do more for African Americans and Latinos than she can ever do in ten lifetimes. All she has done is talk to the African Americans and to the Latinos.”

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That night, viewers started using the hashtag #TheAfricanAmericans to mock the awkward phrasing and muse about what it might reflect about Trump’s relationship to nonwhite people. READ MORE