Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is taking heat for recent comments about the Confederate flag. In an interview on the Glenn Beck podcast, Haley said the flag represented "service, sacrifice and heritage" before mass murderer Dylann Roof "hijacked" its meaning.
WGBH's Under the Radar Host Callie Crossley joined Boston Public Radio on Friday to share her take on this.
"The bottom line is, the flag, and particularly the one in South Carolina, was produced after [the Civil War] and not in praise of heritage and history," she said. "It was a specific symbol to say to the integration movement, and the desegregation movement, 'Not here, we take a stand, we believe in what the Confederates were trying to do in the Civil War, which was to secede, and we have not accepted that.'"
Crossley said she was surprised at Haley's recent comments. Four years ago, as South Carolina's governor, Haley called for the flag's removal from the state house property after Roof murdered nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston.
Haley also served as ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump. In recent months, rumors have circulated that she might replace Pence as the vice presidential candidate in 2020.
"I'm a little surprised by her in general. This is a woman who acquitted herself as well as one could in the Donald Trump administration," said Crossley. "But now she's gone way — I don't know where she's going."
