To the editor: While I can appreciate columnist Jonah Goldberg’s perspective on Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s response to the question about the cause of the Civil War, I disagree with his premise that this was a gaffe or a step in fake.
As a former South Carolina resident during Haley’s tenure as governor, I can assure Goldberg that this is simply who Haley is. Her response fully embodies what she and most South Carolinians believe: that slavery was not a major cause of the Civil War.
Having gone to high school at the beginning of Haley’s term as governor, I can shed some light on what students in South Carolina are actually taught about the Civil War.
We were taught that the Civil War was sparked by a debate over states’ rights. We were taught that the Confederacy never signed a treaty to end the Civil War, and as horrible as it may seem, those who taught us instilled in us a sense that the South can rise again.
Claiming that this is a “gaffe” by Haley is absurd. What she said is probably the most honest answer we could have expected from her.
A.J. Shahin, Bakersfield
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To the editor: Goldberg misses the elephant in the room when talking about Haley’s so-called mistake.
The Republican Party is on a mission to rewrite the history of our original sin, slavery, and its brutal legacy still experienced by African Americans. Furthermore, the party does not have the courage to stop its most rabid members.
We saw the Confederate flag inside the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. This flag has the same meaning to African Americans as the Nazi flag does to Jews, and I do not remember a single Republican leader who has denounced the desecration of our temple of democracy. with the presence of this flag.
If you’re a Republican, it takes courage to say that the current plight of African Americans is a direct result of slavery and the discrimination that followed. The party of Abraham Lincoln is now the party of Jefferson Davis.
René Childress, View Park-Windsor Hills
