Haley defends US has ‘never been’ racist remark: ‘Intent was to do the right thing’

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday defended her comments that the United States “has never been a racist country” and believes the country's “intent was to do the right thing.” said.

Haley said during a CNN town hall hosted by anchor Jake Tapper that as the daughter of Indian immigrants growing up in rural South Carolina, she had to deal with “a lot of racism,” but her parents He said he was glad he didn't say anything. She told her that they live in a racist country.

In an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, Tapper said that given this country's history of slavery, including protections for slavery written into the Constitution, this country is not racist. I asked her if she stood by her statement that it never happened. Her home state of South Carolina was at least partially successful in defending slavery prior to the Civil War.

Haley cited the section of the Declaration of Independence that states “all men are created equal” and the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“If you look closely, it says, 'All men are created equal,' and I think the intention was to do the right thing,” she says. “Now, did they have to make repairs along the way? Yes, but I don't think it was ever our intention for us to be a racist country.”

“The intent was that everyone is created equal,” she added. “Over time, they corrected what wasn't: 'All men are created equal.'”

Haley said progress toward equality for all has occurred over time, such as establishing women's right to vote, but she “rejects.”[s]” Believing that the “premises” of nation-building are based on racial discrimination.

Following Haley's comments on Fox on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Haley emphasized the difference between calling the United States a “racist country” and acknowledging the existence of racism.

“There has always been racism in the United States, but the United States has never been a racist country,” the spokesperson said.

Haley said Thursday that telling brown and black children that they live in a racist country is telling them they have no chance of success, but racial He said discrimination does not define what can be done in a country.

“Too many of us as a people have fallen into self-loathing. It's ruining our country,” she said.

Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence included a passage accusing King George III of continuing the transatlantic slave trade. condemned Slavery, according to History.com. This text was eventually deleted during editing by the Second Continental Congress.

“We believe in our own hearts and in everyone's hearts that we live in the best country in the world, and that we are a work in progress, and that it will take a long time to iron out all the little kinks. “We have to know that we have a ways to go, but I truly believe that our Founding Fathers had the best intentions when they started out in business,” she said.

“And we modified it along the way. We always have to think like that,” she continued.