I recently went to a Nikki Haley Politics and Pie event in Concord with my son-in-law. He was born and raised in Ghana and spent his later teen years and early twenties in the UK. He stays up to date with the news and current events and is a pretty tough critic, so I was curious to hear what he thought. During our drive home he said, “It was refreshing to hear in-depth discussion of the issues, as opposed to sound bites and attacks. I like her.” I had never heard him say that he liked a politician before.

As for me, I find the fact that she was able to remove the Confederate flag (and its pole) from the grounds of the South Carolina State House pretty remarkable. To do this, she worked both with the people of South Carolina and the Legislature. She asked South Carolinians who viewed the flag as a symbol of heritage to be willing to remove it for the sake of the population who viewed it as a symbol of racism and pain. Where there currently seems to be so much focus on the things that can offend and divide us, I find this call for empathy and understanding inspiring. I left the event with more hope than I have had in quite a while.

Rich Clymer

Concord