Nikki Haley criticized those who spun her remarks about the Confederate flag following an interview with Glenn Beck.
Late last week, Haley explained her decision to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina capitol after the mass shooting at a Charleston church by a white supremacist. During the interview, Haley claimed the murderer, Dylan Roof, “hijacked” the Confederate flag by posing with it.
“This guy had come out with his manifesto, holding the Confederate flag, and had just hijacked everything that people thought of,” said Haley. “We don’t have hateful people in South Carolina. There’s always a small minority that’s always going to be there, but people saw it as service, and sacrifice, and heritage, but once he did that, there was no way to overcome it.”
Many took her comment to seem as though she personally viewed the flag as “service and sacrifice” and had dismissed the rest of the history behind the banner.
Nikki Haley says the Confederate flag was about “service, sacrifice and heritage” until the Charleston church mass shooting of Black worshippers, and that the media “wanted to make [the shooting] about racism.” The shooter was a white supremacist.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) December 6, 2019
I’m so tired of this shit. I think of the families of the Charleston church victims, whose wounds @NikkiHaley reopened for no damn reason whatsoever. And all the others murdered under a flag that Confederates themselves said, out loud, represented racism. https://t.co/v4W1Bb954c
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) December 7, 2019
Really, Nikki?! The Confederate Flag represented “service, sacrifice and heritage”? To whom? The black people who were terrorized & lynched in its name? You said it should never have been there. Roof didn’t hijack the meaning of that flag, he inherited it. https://t.co/fbjGHgu8tD
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) December 6, 2019
Several publications wrote up Haley’s comments under the same angle, but as more people came to Haley’s defense, some outlets changed their reports, including Axios.
We’ve deleted a tweet saying that Nikki Haley said the Confederate flag represents “service, sacrifice and heritage”.
Our story has been updated to reflect that Haley said: “People saw [the flag] as service, and sacrifice and heritage” https://t.co/oTIoBbXy4z
— Axios (@axios) December 6, 2019
Haley tweeted her response to the controversy on Sunday morning, saying, “Sad that the outrage media has gone crazy about my recent [interview] with Glenn Beck. What I said was accurate. Many in South Carolina did see the Confederate flag as symbolizing heritage, and many others saw it as symbolling hate. That’s why it was such a difficult issue for so long.”
She added, “I am proud of our state for coming together to remove the flag from our statehouse. If the outrage peddlers in the liberal media are really interested in my views on the flag, instead of distorting them, they should read the first 2 chapters of my book.”
2/2 I am proud of our state for coming together to remove the flag from our statehouse.If the outrage peddlers in the liberal media are really interested in my views on the flag, instead of distorting them, they should read the first 2 chapters of my book. https://t.co/IQq8YXBrtT
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) December 8, 2019
Haley, 47, recently released her book With All Due Respect about her political career. After serving as South Carolina’s governor, she worked in the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
