Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley declared in a Friday interview that the Confederate flag was a symbol of “service, and sacrifice and heritage” before Dylann Roof tarnished its symbolism by murdering nine black people in a South Carolina church.
In an interview on Blaze TV's Glenn Beck Podcast, Haley discussed her reason for removing the Confederate battle flag from the State House after Roof's massacre of parishioners at the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015.
Haley, who also served as a U.N. Ambassador for President Donald Trump, said the tragedy forever affected her state and Roof’s affinity for the flag, shown in a series of photos discovered after the killings, ruined the legacy of its longtime symbol.
“This is one of the oldest African American churches,” she said in the interview. “These 12 people were amazing people. They love their church. They love their family. They loved their community...And here is this guy that comes out with a manifesto, holding the Confederate flag, and had just hijacked everything that people thought of.” Three people survived the shootings.
Haley said Roof represented a “small minority” of South Carolina’s generally accepting and racially inclusive community. However, when media arrived after the killings, there was an unfair narrative created due to the tragic events. She said “there was no way to overcome” the perception of the flag after the killings.
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“The national media came out in droves,” she told Beck. “They wanted to define what happened. They wanted to make it about racism. They wanted to make it about gun control. They wanted to make it about the death penalty.”
Haley goes on to say that after the victims’ funerals there were a “few weeks of debates” that led to her eventually removing the flag.
A Twitter video clip of Friday’s interview had been viewed more than 1.4 million times by the afternoon.
Many commented that Haley’s assertion that the flag bore a dignified legacy before the massacre was “obscene,” and “ahistorical.” Some also said they were “disgusted” and “shocked.” Those who responded on Twitter pointed out the link between the flag and disenfranchising black people and promoting slavery.
Some came out to defend the former governor for responding by removing the Confederate flag from one of the state’s most visible landmarks.
Matthew Whitlock, who works for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, purported that the Twitter user Jason Campbell, a representative for progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America, was misrepresenting Haley’s interview by sharing the short clip.
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