Post by account_disabled on Feb 25, 2024 0:10:46 GMT -5
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Four years after South Carolina removed the Confederate battle flag from its capitol grounds, Nikki Haley offered two different explanations for the flag's meaning in less than a week. Haley, the state's governor when the flag was removed from its place of honor in Columbia in 2015, said in a 2019 interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck that the man who shot and killed eight black parishioners in Charleston, murders that were the impetus for The arrival of the flag had “hijacked” a symbol that many people interpreted as synonymous with “service, sacrifice and heritage.” Two days later, she wrote in the Washington Post: “Everyone knows that the flag has always been a symbol of slavery, discrimination and hatred for many people.” The two messages capture Haley's sometimes contradictory messages about race. Throughout her career, the South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants has generally called out acts of individual prejudice and the people responsible. But Haley, now a Republican presidential candidate, has avoided denouncing society or groups of people as racist. As the GOP primary race shifts to South Carolina and its Feb. 24 contest, Haley is trying to chip away at former President Donald Trump's lead.
He has repeatedly attacked his adversaries throughout his career with racist language, trying to appeal to as many voters as possible without alienating conservatives who reject the idea that systemic racism exists in the United States. But Haley's approach has drawn bipartisan criticism at times, particularly after a town hall in December Algeria Mobile Number List in which Haley refused to say that slavery had been a cause of the Civil War. He later retracted those comments and said that “of course, the Civil War had to do with slavery.” Haley was pressed for more answers about her feelings on race when she was interviewed Wednesday on “The Breakfast Club,” a nationally syndicated morning hip hop radio show in which presidential candidates and other politicians have discussed racial issues. When asked about the 2015 shooting at Charleston's Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Haley told co-host Charlamagne tha God that the national media “came and wanted to define” the event and “wanted it to be about racism.” Haley acknowledged, after being pressed, that the murders were “motivated” by racism. Dylann Roof, a white man, was convicted and sentenced to death. Haley's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Haley and Trump are competing for votes both along South Carolina's fast-growing coast, with its thriving aerospace and defense industries, and in rural areas of a state where the Civil War began more than 150 years ago. Some in South Carolina still revere the Confederate cause and downplay the fact that Southern political leaders wanted to secede to keep slavery intact, as well as the lasting legacy of official federal and state discrimination against blacks. Haley, who was Trump's ambassador to the UN, described facing prejudice in her upbringing in rural Bamberg. "My parents never wanted us to think we lived in a racist country," Haley told reporters recently. “I don't want any brown, black or other child to think they live in a racist country. “I want them to know that they can do and be whatever they want without anyone getting in their way.” Hajar Yazdiha, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, argued that Haley was making a conscious decision to better appeal to conservatives. “Nikki Haley will strategically deploy her identity one moment and not the next. So, at one point, she is bringing up that story,” Yazdiha said. “She really claims her ethnic identity and uses it to tell a compelling story about the American dream. And on the other hand, she minimizes it, erases it, and acts like it has nothing to do with who she is.
He has repeatedly attacked his adversaries throughout his career with racist language, trying to appeal to as many voters as possible without alienating conservatives who reject the idea that systemic racism exists in the United States. But Haley's approach has drawn bipartisan criticism at times, particularly after a town hall in December Algeria Mobile Number List in which Haley refused to say that slavery had been a cause of the Civil War. He later retracted those comments and said that “of course, the Civil War had to do with slavery.” Haley was pressed for more answers about her feelings on race when she was interviewed Wednesday on “The Breakfast Club,” a nationally syndicated morning hip hop radio show in which presidential candidates and other politicians have discussed racial issues. When asked about the 2015 shooting at Charleston's Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Haley told co-host Charlamagne tha God that the national media “came and wanted to define” the event and “wanted it to be about racism.” Haley acknowledged, after being pressed, that the murders were “motivated” by racism. Dylann Roof, a white man, was convicted and sentenced to death. Haley's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Haley and Trump are competing for votes both along South Carolina's fast-growing coast, with its thriving aerospace and defense industries, and in rural areas of a state where the Civil War began more than 150 years ago. Some in South Carolina still revere the Confederate cause and downplay the fact that Southern political leaders wanted to secede to keep slavery intact, as well as the lasting legacy of official federal and state discrimination against blacks. Haley, who was Trump's ambassador to the UN, described facing prejudice in her upbringing in rural Bamberg. "My parents never wanted us to think we lived in a racist country," Haley told reporters recently. “I don't want any brown, black or other child to think they live in a racist country. “I want them to know that they can do and be whatever they want without anyone getting in their way.” Hajar Yazdiha, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, argued that Haley was making a conscious decision to better appeal to conservatives. “Nikki Haley will strategically deploy her identity one moment and not the next. So, at one point, she is bringing up that story,” Yazdiha said. “She really claims her ethnic identity and uses it to tell a compelling story about the American dream. And on the other hand, she minimizes it, erases it, and acts like it has nothing to do with who she is.