Pulitzer Winner Nikole Hannah-Jones Says Donald Trump’s ‘Attack’ of ‘The 1619 Project’ Is an ‘Affirmation’

Nikole Hannah-Jones is taking Donald Trump's criticism about The 1619 Project as a compliment.

Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the founder of the New York Times Magazine's The 1619 Project, has addressed the former president calling the initiative "toxic propaganda" during a speech in 2020.

"I would say I've had two very different responses," Hannah-Jones told Deadline in an interview published Thursday. "Part of it, of course, can be a bit frightening when the most powerful man in the world is targeting your work — and especially someone like Donald Trump who promotes violence, whose supporters can be openly racist."

She continued, "Everything you could possibly be called, I've been called. I've been threatened. You get a certain amount of response when he would tweet or his minions would tweet about the work."

Sharing the other side of her perspective, Hannah-Jones added, "But on the other hand, it's such an affirmation. This isn't any president that's attacking the work. This is a pretty openly white nationalist president whose views and actions are in opposition to everything that I stand for and this work stands for."

She explained why she's looking at Trump's remarks in a positive light. "So, in some ways, I couldn't imagine a greater badge of honor that someone in that position who has a million things that they should be working on, feels that this work is so dangerous to his agenda that he would need to constantly attack it."

She went on to categorize Trump's statement as "dangerous" amid the political climate.

"Certainly as a journalist, as someone who believes in free speech, who takes very seriously when the state tries to prohibit texts and speech simply because they don't politically agree with it — I think that's very dangerous. And I don't want to downplay how dangerous of a moment I think we're in, particularly with what's happening in Florida, and if that's going to be exported out to the broader America." 

Continued Hannah-Jones: "I just saw Arkansas is banning AP African American history. We are in a dangerous time. But if your work is not having impact, powerful people don't spend so much effort attacking it. They don't attack insignificant work. So, I think for all of us on The 1619 Project documentary team, again, it just affirms why we did this and why we continue to push this work forward."

Per its website, The 1619 Project "is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative."