US President Donald Trump’s former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Monday said that “America is not a racist country” at the Republican National Convention.

Haley further said, “This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a saree. I was a brown girl in a black and white world”.

“We faced discrimination and hardship. But my parents never gave in to grievance and hate. My mom built a successful business. My dad taught 30 years at a historically black college. And the people of South Carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor”, Haley added.

The former UN envoy said that America is a story that is a work in progress. “Now is the time to build on that progress, and make America even freer, fairer and better for everyone,” she was quoted as saying by CNN.

“In much of the Democratic Party, it is now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country.” she said.

Haley’s remarks assume significance as protests across the US broke out earlier this year, after George Floyd, an African-American man, died when an officer named Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd to the ground. Chauvin had kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

“It does not have to be like this. It was not like this in South Carolina five years ago. Our state came face-to-face with evil. A white supremacist walked into Mother Emanuel Church during Bible Study. Twelve African Americans pulled up a chair and prayed with him for an hour. Then he began to shoot,” Haley said.

On the death of Floyd, Haley took to Twitter and said, he deserves justice, and this has to stop. But these riots undermine justice for Mr. Floyd. Peaceful protests are a tradition. Lawless rioting must be stopped. The first mayor/governor who shows he or she is serious about ending the violence will be a national hero.

Nikki Haley was the senior most Indian-American official in the Trump administration.

(With inputs from agency)