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I was rooting for 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley, not because I plan to vote Republican in the next election. I’m team Blue. I was rooting for her because I fear another Donald Trump presidency would lead to the end of American democracy. I believe America would become an abusive dictatorship under his leadership.
How I saw Nikki Haley before her New Hampshire Slavery Omission Debacle
As for Haley, I saw her as a sensible candidate who actually stood a chance at dethroning Trump from receiving the Republican Party’s nomination and preventing him from having a chance to be “president for life,” which he believes and even states is a great idea. I remember it was just a few years ago when he toyed with the idea.
I found his thinking repulsive.
“He’s now president for life, president for life. And he’s great,” Trump said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping while at a fundraiser in Florida. “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”
His alarming rhetoric sent shivers down my back and should do the same for every American who supports our nation’s peaceful transfer of power.
But after last night’s town hall, as a Black American, I find Haley’s comments and behavior are equally alarming.
During a Wednesday night town hall gathering in New Hampshire, a pivotal state for 2024 presidential hopefuls, Nikki Haley became embroiled in a contentious situation following a seemingly straightforward inquiry: “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?”
Haley Couldn’t Answer a Simple Question
It was a simple question that required a simple answer: Slavery was the cause of the Civil War.
Disappointingly, she failed to answer the voter’s question. Instead, she rambled on miserably stating that she believes the U.S. Civil War was caused by “how the government was going to run, the freedoms, and what people could and couldn’t do.”
She was afraid to say the obvious: Slavery!
Haley’s fragility and desire to be more approximate to whiteness reveals that she doesn’t have the spine to deal with America’s complex social issues, especially when it concerns race.
She seemingly, intentionally planned to avoid the crux of the question, which wasn’t what concerned me most. After all, I expect it from a white-looking Republican political candidate who comfortably once said, “America is not a racist country.”
However, I found the next statement that she made all the more alarming:
“I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life.”
2024 Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley
All I see are red flags.
A Lack of Moral Clarity
What exactly did she mean when she stated, “It was never meant to be all things to all people”? Is she okay with everyone not having rights? Bodily autonomy? The right to read books by Black authors? The right to love whomever?
I found her follow-up even more confusing.
“Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life,” and “They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do?”
So can we have bodily autonomy and love whomever or not, Ms. Haley?
Do you think it’s okay for White people to own Black people in America?
Before her latest public debacle, I wanted to believe that Nikki Haley was simply a conservative who I and many others disagree with politically. However, her inability to answer a simple question concerning slavery and the Civil War makes me question her morality.
Even Thomas Jefferson referred to slavery as the greatest crime against humanity itself. Despite being our nation’s third American president, Jefferson was an enslaver and rapist; nevertheless, he, too, was a victim of the system he was born into, a system we inherit the residue of today, a residue that Haley denies.
What Haley’s statement reveals is that she isn’t ready to lead a multicultural American society. She should practice clarity before her next town hall and get comfortable with facing complex social issues head on.
SNAKEY Haley