I have been stuck since Nikki Haley, a Republican desiring to be president, uttered the most profoundly insulting words I have heard in a long time.

            “Do you remember when you were growing up, do you remember how simple life was, how easy it felt? It was about faith, family, and country. We can have that again, but to do that, we must vote Joe Biden out,” she said. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/06/27/opinion/renee-graham-nikki-haley-2024-gop-trump/#:~:text=“Do%20you%20remember%20when%20you,must%20vote%20Joe%20Biden%20out.”)

            I was stunned. The statement was so ignorant and insensitive that I just got stuck. What do you say to something like that? Her words took me back to the lyrics of the song, “The Way We Were” sung by Barbra Streisand in the movie of the same name:

Memories
Light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were

Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we?
Could we?

Memories
May be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember
We simply to choose to forget

So it’s the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were
The way we were

            For whom was life so simple? Surely, if you were white and middle class or higher, it was a lot easier than it was for everyone else, including poor people – be they white and living in rural areas or Black and Brown, living in urban areas. For the white, middle, and upper classes, it was easy to remain in their silos and be able to tune out the difficult lives lived by so many people. Maybe they had lives where the mom dressed for a day’s work as a housewife in a shirtdress, accessorized with pearls and an apron like white television mothers were often portrayed.

            But that wasn’t the life of the masses. The lives of people trying to make it did not allow a lapse into fantasy. Life was “no crystal stair” for those who had to work 2-3 jobs to make ends meet. Racism and sexism were issues that badly affected many people. Black soldiers were frequently killed when they returned from fighting in World Wars I and II, and veterans of the Vietnam War were treated like misfits because America was ashamed of losing a war that the country should never have entered.

            Blacks, whites, and Jews were marching together and getting attacked and/or killed because they dared stand up to the racist American system. Leaders who were trying to make a difference – including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, President John Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy – were mercilessly assassinated. All over the world, there was an eruption of antisemitism, resulting in what has been labeled the “swastika epidemic.” (https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-swastika-epidemic-global-antisemitism-and-human-rights-activism-the-cold-war-1960s) 

            In the days of Haley’s youth, it was not only Black people and Jews who were hated. Roman Catholics were also hated. (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/when-america-hated-catholics-213177/) 

            Medgar Evers was assassinated in the driveway of his own home. Black and White kids were beaten and killed because they participated in the movement to end segregation. Three Civil Rights workers, one Black and two Jewish, were murdered because they, too, were working to dismantle the racist system of this country. Emmett Till was murdered by white guys who were acquitted and bragged that they had in fact killed the teenager.

            The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An estimated 418,000 Americans died in World War II. An estimated of 2-3 million civilians on both sides are said to have been killed during 58 the Vietnam War. An estimated 200,000-250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died, and over 58,000 American soldiers either died or were/are listed as missing.

            So, what “simple” and “easy life” was Nikki talking about? Was she completely shielded from what was going on? Was she so sheltered that she did not know what this country was going through? And did she get a message that if people were suffering, it was not because of racism or sexism or poverty or immoral policies being passed; it was because they deserved the way they lived because they were lazy?

            I am still stunned by her words. I’m angry at Ron DeSantis saying that slavery was “beneficial” for Black people and that enslaved Africans actually benefitted from slavery because they were taught skills (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/22/desantis-slavery-curriculum/) and inferred that Africans wanted to come here and did so, willingly. That discussion is for another article.

            But Nikki Haley’s words stung. The sheer ignorance and insensitivity were astounding. “Can it be that life was so simple then? Or has time rewritten every line…What’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget”

            Out of respect for all for whom life was not so simple, I wish that Nikki Haley would just sit down and be quiet. Her voice is tainted with ignorance and insensitivity because of her blind ambition; it seems that she will say anything to pander to the group of people who are pushing racial, gender, religious, and ethnic discord.

            We don’t need you, Nikki. This country just does not need you.

            A candid observation…