Nikki Haley felt guilt, PTSD after Charleston church shooting, she writes in new book
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she suffered from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder after nine people were murdered at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church in 2015, according to an excerpt from her new book shared by The Washington Post.
Haley, also a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in President Trump’s administration, is set to release her book, “With All Due Respect,” on Tuesday.
The Republican from Lexington said in the book that she also felt guilty about her pain following the Emanuel shootings in comparison to the ordeal endured by the survivors and family members of those killed in the historic church.
“She described bouts of sobbing, loss of appetite and focus, and guilt for feeling that way when the victims and their families had suffered so much more,” The Washington Post reported
Dylann Roof, a self-avowed white supremacist from the Columbia area, murdered nine black parishioners on June 17, 2015, during a Bible study session at Charleston’s historic Mother Emanuel AME Church. Roof selected that church because of its black parishioners, and he told FBI agents he was hoping to start a race war.
He was found guilty by a federal jury on 33 charges related to the shooting and was sentenced to death. He is on federal death row in Indiana.
He later pleaded guilty to nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in state court and received nine life sentences.
Haley invoked her experience after the Emanuel shooting in response to Trump’s handling of a woman who was killed during a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump said “both sides” had been to blame for the violence during a Unite the Right rally organized by white supremacist groups.
That struck a nerve with Haley, who was governor of South Carolina for six years before joining the Trump Administration.
“A leader’s words matter in these situations. And the president’s words had been hurtful and dangerous,” Haley wrote, according to The Washington Post. “I picked up the phone and called the president.”
Shortly after the church shooting, Haley called on members of the South Carolina General Assembly to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds as part of a healing process.
At the time, Haley said her sense of urgency was propelled by the victims’ families, who expressed love and forgiveness to Roof, and strength and grace when Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church reopened, The State reported.
“My children saw that true hate can never, never triumph over true love,” Haley said in 2015. “My children saw the heart and soul of South Carolina start to mend.”
“With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace,” is published by New York-based St. Martin’s Press. It’s Haley’s second book and offers a “first-hand perspective on major national and international matters, as well as a behind-the-scenes account of her tenure in the Trump administration,” the book’s description says.
Haley’s first book, “Can’t Is Not An Option,” was released in 2012.
“I was blessed to serve during some momentous times as governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,” Haley said in a previous statement. “There were tragedies and triumphs, but through it all my love for America has only grown. My hope with this book is to give people a unique window into recent history and inspire us toward a better future.”
Haley will make two stops in her home state as part of a promotional tour for her new book. The tour will stop in Spartanburg at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Converse College, then in Charleston’s Gaillard Center at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“I’ve always found writing a book to be therapeutic. My first book was unbelievably therapeutic,” Haley told the conservative Weekly Standard magazine shortly after resigning as ambassador in December of 2018.
Haley’s next move is being scrutinized, as many consider her a candidate for president in 2024.
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Nikki Haley felt guilt, PTSD after Charleston church shooting, she writes in new book."
