the fabrics of tomorrow
Nikki Haley and the negligent framework that is harming progression
Several weeks ago as I watched CNN’s Jake Tapper question Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley at a town hall in New Hampshire, a harrowing concept circled my mind for the remainder of the week. Tapper asked Haley about a recent remark, in which she stated “The U.S. has never been a racist country.” It’s one thing to hear such remarks come from extreme political parties that lack diversity. Watching it leave the lips of a human being who identifies as Brown, however, is an entirely different situation. A deeply troubling one.
This then raised the question, how deeply does this sentiment affect our country’s future? While the amount of issues that continue to plague marginalized groups is far too massive to unpack in one discussion, this notion of the U.S. never being a racist country is a primary factor that continues to obstruct any progress concerning true equality. This negligent framework of avoiding, falsifying, and in some cases, erasing our country’s complex history, is impeding our growth toward progression, specifically regarding education and legislation. Let me explain why.
For an individual who is thoroughly educated and immensely qualified in the realm of politics, to declare an idea as irrational as the one that she made is downright disheartening, irresponsible, and infuriating. Not only is Haley the only remaining GOP presidential candidate competing with former President Donald Trump for the party’s nomination, but she’s the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet.
She’s seemingly been utilizing her Brown girl identity for some time now, as a means to win over the hearts and minds of everyday working-class Americans. A means to relate to people who have struggled with, fought through, and triumphed over adversity. This tactic of resorting to relatability as a fellow commoner in the face of distress, for the sake of garnering more votes, considerably contradicts the egregious statement she made. If America has never been racist, why must you feel the need to employ your Brown card as a tool for empathy whenever the chance presents itself?
The former governor of South Carolina doubled down on her utterance, saying “I was a Brown girl who grew up in a small, rural town. We had plenty of racism we had to deal with, but my parents never said we lived in a racist country. And I'm so thankful that they didn't. Because for every Black and Brown child out there, if you tell them they live or are born in a racist country, you are immediately telling them they don't have a chance.”
Aside from the statement being historically, statistically, and theoretically flawed, the idea itself is an oxymoron. My disappointment lies within my expectations of a Clemson University graduate and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. My vexation with this situation lies within her knowing the challenges of being an American of color. Being part of a group that constantly has to outwork thousands of white counterparts who are more often than not, far less qualified, yet somehow seem to “earn” the vast majority of important roles, titles, and positions, with fluidity. Knowing this, she still dares to voice the most illogical statements with such conviction, despite the likelihood of having experienced racism her entire life. My annoyance lies within my assumption that she should know better. I suppose that in my ways, this feeling of dismay is a fault of my own, for even producing such presumptions.
How could you experience racism firsthand, but refuse to identify the place in which you reside as a racist establishment? How does proper education on the accurate history of America hinder Black and Brown children, versus leaving them ignorant toward the brutal ways of society? How does teaching Black and Brown children about the harsh realities of the United States, the country in which they hold the keys to the future, inhibit their chances of success?
In a country where there's “plenty of racism”, not teaching a Black or Brown child about racism is essentially training them to accept any and all forms of oppression. To not educate children in the U.S. on the expansive history of racism in this place is to suppress and internalize racist ideas, which in turn, teaches them to belittle their self-worth. In not being able to recognize racism as they continuously experience it, Black and Brown children will likely see imaginary flaws in themselves rather than in the vicious system that has historically oppressed their ancestors, and continues to oppress them today.
While there’s an innumerable amount of public information available to vanquish this debate of America being a non-racist nation, let me provide several studies that specifically addresses oppression toward Black and Brown children.
Black and Brown youth in America are 18 times more likely than white kids to be criminally sentenced as adults rather than children, according to a study in the Personality and Social Psychology journal. In addition, the likelihood of being suspended from school and receiving harsher punishments for the same infractions than white children, according to research published by the American Psychological Association, is significantly higher. Furthermore, Black and Brown children are far more likely to face police violence than white youth, when accused of the same crime.
Living in a society where there's "plenty of racism", yet leaving children unprepared for the challenges and realities to come by way of proper education and crucial conversations, is a great disservice that’s proven to cause sizable harm, and in many cases, even death. For folks who believe we live in a non-racist country, and that America’s youth should not be informed on past and present detriments, do you truly believe that Ralph Yarl doesn’t live in a racist country? Yarl, who was 16 years young when he was shot twice by 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a white man, had accidentally rang the wrong doorbell while trying to pick up his younger brothers. This was what compelled a white adult male to try and rob Mr. Yarl of his extremely juvenile and beautiful life.
Do you truly believe that Trayvon Martin, who would’ve celebrated his 29th birthday on Monday the 5th, lived in a non-racist country? In 2012 Mr. Martin was fatally shot after being followed by George Zimmerman for looking like a "punk". He had purchased a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea from a 7-Eleven in Sanford, Florida. To believe that the U.S. isn’t racist is to endorse the idea that it is within the rights of American citizens to destroy and extract Black and Brown bodies whenever they feel like doing so, with zero repercussions attached to the act.
Republicans like Nikki Haley who are forcing censored antiracist education onto the vast population of America by voicing baseless ideologies on some of the world’s biggest platforms, is not only unfounded, but entirely disrespectful and harmful.
The confidence she displayed as she mentioned the “all men are created equal” line from the Declaration of Independence while standing next to Jake Tapper after he listed a handful of basic widely-known examples of explicit racism, was tiresome. The audacity to mention a document that falsely states all men are created equal when one-fifth of the American population in 1776 were enslaved Black people, and one-third of the Declaration’s signers were enslavers, is profound. The final record that most of us were taught to praise and celebrate in elementary school, the notorious document that politicians love to recite, doesn’t mention slavery. Through the paper’s silence, it in fact endorses enslavement. Many are unaware that the first draft indeed included a condemnation of slavery, but the section was swiftly removed before it could get finalized, underscoring the contradiction between the founding fathers’ beliefs and actions. Quite literally, this nation was born with glaring racism.
The list of flagrant forms of oppression is expanding every single day. Whether it’s desperate initiatives planted by the extreme right-wing to dismantle DEI initiatives, deliberate financial blockades by Wall Street to maintain economic disparities, mass incarceration schemes, or blatantly brutal police tactics practiced on Black and Brown bodies, the need to argue the fact that the United States, since its formation and long before, has always been systematically racist at its core, is utterly unnecessary. The proof has been sown deep within the country’s identity, revealing its power throughout America’s complex history. And it continues to be woven into the fabrics of tomorrow.
