Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shuts down white man on racism

Donald Trump's US election victory has triggered lots of discussion about racists and alt-right trolls in the country.

During one such discussion, on the BBC's Newsnight program, the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had to remind a conservative pundit that racism actually exists in America.

R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr, founder and editor-in-chief of the conservative magazine The American Spectator, argued with host Emily Maitlis that Trump's language during the campaign had not been racist.

"That's not true, he hasn’t been racist,” he replied after Maitlis stressed that even Republicans such as Paul Ryan acknowledged Trump had used hateful language.

To which Adichie said:

“I am sorry, but if you are a white man, you don’t get to define what racism is," she said. "You really don’t.”

Tyrrell tried to claim that he can't even open his mouth "because I am a white male" -- but Adichie has no time for such objections.

“No, you don’t get to sit there and say that he hasn’t been racist when, objectively, he has," she replied.

Earlier in the interview, Tyrrell tried to downplay the KKK's enthusiastic support for Trump.

Again, Adichie shut him down: “You know, I find it really interesting. It seems to be a refusal to accept reality."

"The point is, the KKK exists. The KKK endorsed Donald Trump. The KKK stands for white supremacy and that has to be acknowledged.”