By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Well, isn’t that precious! GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, is making the media rounds insisting that there is no systemic racism in America, but only some racist acts.
At one point, the clueless governor, whose parents were immigrants from India, went so far to say that racism in America was just a few “kinks” in our system of fair play and governance!
If Nikki Haley, who is desperate for a win in New Hampshire and then goes on to her home turf of South Carolina, is averse to elaborate on her bizarre statements, I will stand in the gap for her and “unpackage” her nonsensical statement about those “kinks.”
Let’s take a brief synopsis of those irritating “kinks” that Nikki Haley is prone to label as being mere slight irritants to millions of Americans.
KINKS: The near decimation of millions of the Indigenous/Native American population in these United States when White settlers and explorers first stepped onto these shores.
That same kink still appears to the present day with the establishment of ghettos, aka: reservations that “Indians” were assigned to when ALL treaties with the US government were broken or not honored, and which means hundreds of billions of dollars of land wealth, mineral rights and oil rights were taken by open brute force (including documented massacres) or fraud and deceit.
Time does not allow for the discussion of the devastation and intentional cruelty and the family destruction of “Indian” children being forced to attend barbaric settlement camps or schools by which the children were stripped of their native culture, language and traditions so as to, “Kill the Indian but save the man.” (title of a current book).
How about the kink when Chinese immigrants were brought to America to build the transcontinental railway during which they suffered profound loss of life and limb and upon its completion became persons non gratis.
Or, consider the internment of Japanese American citizens during WWII when they were placed in concentration camps because the government was unsure of their “loyalty” to the US, and they did not first get the benefit of any due process rights and had to sue upon their release for compensatory damages.
But who could (except for Nikki Haley) forget the date of 1619 and to present date of America’s greatest sin: human chattel, aka: slavery.
From that fateful date and forward, White America has been double minded in inflicting immeasurable harm and suffering on the African American simply due to the color of his or her skin.
Hundred of books have been written on the legacy of slavery including thousands of lynchings (the ones we know about), the last effect of Jim Crow, ghettos, federally enforced red lining and banking practices, housing segregation, unequal judicial enforcement of similar crimes committed by Black people and White people, a court system that was at war with people of color, medical and educational disparities due to race alone; and the mere stress of being Black in these United States that cripples one’s longevity, medical care, income opportunities and the daily scarring or micro abrasions done by the dominant society. (Note: two good reads on this: Stamped from the Beginning and Caste).
And yet, despite the voluminous evidence that is available in the public arena, Nikki Haley is prostituting herself to the White GOP/MAGA, a party that wants to fake it and downplay racism in America.
If Nikki Haley was honest about it, the White GOP/MAGA vote would punish her at the polls for a more truthful rendition of American history.
So, what does Nikki Haley do? She grins and smiles and tries to soften the blows of her ridiculous comments so that she is not viewed as a total fool regarding American History.
Nikki Haley knows who butters her political bread and it is not Black Americans in the GOP/MAGA party, so she can step on them as she tries to grasp the GOP nominee for president.
If she were to win it (not a snowball chance in Hell), then you would see a different Haley trying to pivot away from her gibberish about the disgraceful racial history in America being just a series of, “kinks.”
Or, put another way: “Nothing to see here folks, move along!”
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com