MLK speechwriter tells of despair after Nikki Haley's slavery flub

A friend and speechwriter of Martin Luther King Jr. told Monday — the day commemorating what would have been the civil rights leader's 95th birthday —of the shock he felt when GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley "had to hesitate in response to a question as to the “cause” of the American Civil War."

According to Clarence B. Jones in a column written for USA Today, "It’s hard to get excited about the future when some staunchly refuse to learn the lessons of the past."

"Even worse, it could be that Haley knew full well the answer but, in courting the MAGA vote, she struggled to give an answer with political cover for her target audience." Jones wrote.

Jones was referring to a recent news story detailing Haley's response to a question from a town hall attendee who asked what the reason for the Civil War was, to which Haley responded that it involved, “The freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do" — while omitting mention of slavery.

The questioner then admonished Haley, saying, “In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word ‘slavery.’”

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Jones wrote, "Haley’s lack of understanding that slavery was the cause of our Civil War, the bloodiest war in our history, represents misguided thinking and willful blindness that has stuck around."

He went on to write that he still has hope for the future and remembered the words of MLK when he accepted the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize:

"I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him."

Read more at USA Today.