Haley’s comments are the latest in a string that have received blowback regarding her stance on racism and race
GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley on Wednesday rejected the idea that the 2015 Charleston mass shooting at a Black church was about racism.
Appearing on the influential hip-hop morning show The Breakfast Club, Haley told co-host Charlamagne tha God that the national media “came in and wanted to define” the event.
“They wanted to make it about guns, they wanted to make it about racism, they wanted to make it about the death penalty.”
Charlamagne then interjected, saying, “it was about racism though.” Haley then pushed back, saying it wasn’t. He then responded, saying it was a “racist mass killing.”
She then added, “But the point was I strong-armed them and said there will be a time we talk about all that. But right now, we have nine souls we need to put to rest. I didn’t have that luxury. Because two days later the killer came out draped in the Confederate flag … .”