By Mildred Robertson
Nikki Haley says America has never been a racist
country…right after she said racism is on the decline. Okay Nikki, which is it? Is there or isn’t there racism in America? Did America used to be racist but it’s not
anymore? Racist or not, which is it? Used to be racist, but got better?
She knows…she is the brown daughter of Indian immigrants.
She knows.
In fact, in that same interview, she said “I know I
faced racism when I was growing up, but I can tell you that today is a lot
better than it was then.” So there was
racism after there was no racism which she experienced firsthand as racism…right?
That was a word salad if I ever heard one. Circular speaking at its best.
I don’t have to wonder whether America has ever
been racist. I have experienced it for myself (as has she). My family moved
from Mississippi to Missouri in the early '60s. When we traveled home in the summer,
particularly around the 4th of July, you would see black people in nice cars
with Northern plates pulled over by cops all up and down the road. It did not pay
to be black and appear to be prosperous. Also, my mother always packed a basket
of food so that we would not have to stop and eat on the road at a segregated
restaurant. That's in my lifetime.
When we moved to Missouri I attended predominately
white schools. I was not overtly discriminated against in the public schools,
but I was ignored. I do recall having developed a friendship in the 6th
grade with a white girl at school. We played together every recess and became fast
friends. One day she invited me to come play at her house on Saturday…I only
lived a couple of blocks from her. So, I showed up on Saturday and knocked on
the door to ask her to come out and play. In a few minutes, she came to the
door and said we couldn’t play today. We
never played at recess again. That’s in my lifetime.
I attended College at the University of
Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. I wanted to take a class in radio
broadcast management. The instructor of the class told me that I should not
register because there were no job opportunities for a black female in the
industry. I signed up for the class anyway. He actually approached me on the
first day of class and asked me why I was there. Embarrassed, I picked up my
books, left the class, and never returned. That was in my lifetime.
These are just a few of my own experiences with
racism in America…I could go on. There are many Black Americans who could tell
many more, and much more ominous tales of America’s racial animus toward our
race. The victims of hanging, folks whose land was stolen from them, victims of
police brutality like Sandra Bland, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd;
interracial couples who were persecuted like the Lovings, victims of racial
hatred like the slain members of the Mother Emmanuel AME Church, asylum-seeking
migrants jailed at the border or illegally bused across the country…the list is
endless.
Nimarata Randhawa (oh, I mean Nikki Haley)
knows that she has been discriminated against as a non-white immigrant, not
just in the past, but today. She knows America’s legacy but chooses to deny it.
My mother always instructed me that it is not nice to call a person a liar, but
what must you do if that person is?
This woman wants to be president of the United States but cannot speak truthfully about who and what America is. Do you want a
leader who will so easily bend the truth to attain the goal of acceptance, and
the position of president? Do you want a politician who will say whatever needs
to be said to be successful? Do you support a person who will pardon an
insurrectionist former president and offer him amnesty simply to lure his
constituency? Do you want someone in the
Whitehouse whose moral compass is so weak as to bend the truth to suit her
purposes? If so, Nimarata (Nikki) is your girl. But I wouldn’t support her if I
were you, because she doesn’t even want you to know her real name. You see in
the end, you don’t know what choice she will make for you, because Nikki Haley
lies.
