Nikki Haley in her own words: Why America ‘has never been a racist country’

CNN —

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has drawn praise and criticism this week for her claim that the United States “has never been a racist country.”

At a CNN town hall Thursday night, host Jake Tapper asked the Republican presidential candidate to clarify what she meant by the remark, noting that slavery was enshrined in the Constitution.

Haley responded she truly believes “our Founding Fathers had the best of intentions when they started and we fixed it along the way.”

Here’s a look at how the Haley’s response has evolved over the last week:

‘We’ve never been a racist country’

On Tuesday, the former governor gave an interview on Fox News where she was asked to respond to an MSNBC host’s comments about the Republican Party.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked Haley if she was “involved in a racist party.”

Haley responded, “We’re not a racist country, Brian. We’ve never been a racist country.”

“Our goal is to make sure that today is better than yesterday. Are we perfect? No. But our goal is to always make sure we try and be more perfect every day that we can. I know I faced racism when I was growing up. But I can tell you, today is a lot better than it was then. Our goal is to lift up everybody. Not go and divide people on race or gender or party or anything else. We’ve had enough of that in America.”

A campaign spokesman for Haley later reiterated the former governor’s position, telling CNN:

“America has always had racism, but America has never been a racist country. The liberal media always fails to get that distinction. It can throw a fit, but that doesn’t change Nikki’s belief that America is special because its people are always striving to do better and live up to our founding ideals of