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Whoopi Goldberg criticized GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Wednesday over her claim that the United States “has never been a racist country.”
Whoopi Goldberg didn’t mince words on The View Wednesday (Jan. 17), in blasting Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley over her claim that America has “never been a racist country.” Haley made that statement during an interview with Fox News the evening before. After playing the clip, the co-host began, “I don’t understand why it’s so hard to admit that racism has been and is a part of U.S. history.”
“When you think back, 1849, 1869, they lynched 20, 30 Italians because they were Italian. They lynched Black folks. Black folks didn’t climb up in the trees and lynch themselves,” Goldberg continued. “You know, people were angry and came and burned them out. Emmett Till did not do that to himself, that was done to him ’cause somebody was angry because he overstepped in their mind what he was supposed to do as a Black person.” The EGOT winner concluded her remarks before the rest of the panel joined in: “Yeah, we are trying to get it better, but stop trying to whitewash it because every time they say we’re gonna take away Black history, we’re gonna take away women’s history — what do you think that says?”
The discussion would be picked up again as Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the show. She began by stating that it is unwise to turn such a topic into a mere soundbite before saying, “There’s no denying that we have, in our history as a nation, racism, and that racism has played a role in the history of our nation. I think we all would agree that while it is part of our past and we see vestiges of it today, we should also be committed collectively to not letting it define the future of our country.”
Haley’s recent claim follows a campaign run in Iowa mired by her refusal to acknowledge slavery as the prime cause of the Civil War. The former governor of South Carolina would try to deflect from that backlash, claiming that she “had Black friends growing up” as a defense. She currently is trailing behind former President Donald Trump as the GOP candidates begin to campaign in New Hampshire.
