Nikki Haley tries to defend Civil War mistake with odd answer: ‘Had black friends growing up’
January 05, 2024 09:43 AM
Former Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had an odd answer when attempting to clarify further why she omitted slavery as a reason for what caused the Civil War during an event last week.
Haley reiterated during a CNN town hall on Thursday that she believed slavery was a given as a cause, but also pushed back on fellow GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie for saying her answer was directed in a way so she would not offend some. In her answer, Haley mentioned how she “had black friends growing up.”
“I should have said slavery right off the bat, but if you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery,” Haley said. “You grow up, and you have, you know, I had black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina when it comes to slavery, when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War, all that.”
“I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward. I shouldn’t have done that,” she said. “I should have said slavery. But in my mind, that’s a given that everybody associates the Civil War with slavery.”
When pressed about the discussions about slavery in her household, she discussed her experience as a part of an Indian family in rural South Carolina and how her family did not fit in with others because they “weren’t white enough to be white” and “weren’t black enough to be black.”
In taking the answer to a broader discussion of racism, Haley again said that she “had black friends growing up” as part of her answer.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“It was not just slavery that was talked about; it was more about racism that was talked about,” she said. “It was more about, you know, we had friends, we had black friends, we had white friends, but it was always a topic of conversation, even among our friends, and in the South, we’re very comfortable talking about it because we know that’s what it is.”
She continued her answer, discussing her experience with race matters as governor of South Carolina, including her removal of the Confederate flag from the state capital in 2015.