CNN’s Charles Barkley couldn’t control his laughter Thursday after hearing presidential candidate Nikki Haley profess that the United States has “never been a racist country.”
After composing himself, the former basketball player criticized the Republican candidate’s comments as “just stupid.”
“She is absolutely right if you forget about slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, anti-Semitism and anti-Asian hatred that has been going on in this country. “America has gone from strength to strength,” Barkley said, earning several laughs from “King Charles” co-host Gayle King.
The couple had seen a clip of the former South Carolina governor making that wild claim during an interview with Fox and Friends when host Brian Kilmeade asked him if the Republican Party is a racist party.
While admitting that she, as an Indian-American woman, had experienced racism firsthand, Haley stated that the country has since evolved to achieve equality between races, genders and social classes.
“We are not a racist country, Brian. “We have never been a racist country,” he said.
“I know I faced racism as a child. But I can tell you that today is much better than then. Our goal is to encourage everyone. Don’t go divide people by race, gender, party or anything else. “We’ve had enough of that in America,” he added.
Charles Barkley said it was “just stupid” for Nikki Haley to claim that the United States had never been a racist country. cnn
After airing the clip, King told Barkley that CNN polled several people on the street, none of whom agreed with the presidential candidate’s thoughts.
King added that it was “surprising” that Haley would make such a statement, which her campaign would later double down on.
“Well, no, it can’t surprise you. That was just stupid. “America was built on racism,” Barkley said.
“Listen, you can criticize the country. This is the best country in the world, but you can still criticize… You turn on the TV every day and there is racism. And for her, as someone who wants to be president of the United States and says something so stupid… you can’t think that. You cannot think that racism does not exist in this country.
Haley said in an interview that she had experienced racism herself, but that the country itself was not racist. cnn
“I’m very disappointed that she said it because it’s 100% wrong,” he said.
Haley’s campaign released a statement following the backlash blaming the media for misinterpreting her words.
His campaign emphasized that “America has always had racism, but it has never been a racist country.”
“The liberal media never gets that distinction. “It may provoke an attack, but that does not change Nikki’s belief that America is special because its people always strive to do better and live up to our founding ideals of freedom and equality,” the statement said.
Haley finished third in the Iowa Caucus behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. AFP via Getty Images
Haley had previously faced criticism for refusing to name slavery as the primary cause of the Civil War during a town meeting last month.
He claimed that the root of the war lay in the limitations the government imposed on its people, but he did not mention the “peculiar institution” of the antebellum South in his response.
Following the backlash, Haley backpedaled and claimed that “of course” slavery was the cause, adding that she assumed it was a “given.”
Haley came in third in the Iowa Caucus over the weekend, very close to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, with whom she has consistently polled similar numbers in recent weeks.
Former President Donald Trump was the clear winner of the caucus, as recent polls had predicted.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn