A visit to Nikki Haley's hometown — where division 'still exists'

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."As Haley's star has risen, her hometown – like many other rural small towns, has declined, losing jobs and many of its young people. The interstate bypassed the community, and a textile factory left town. Older residents can remember when the town's main street was bustling and lined with traffic; today, most of the old brick storefronts are empty or covered in plywood.

And there are still racial divisions.

Stokes, who lives a few blocks from the much larger home that Haley's parents eventually moved into, says when she moved into the overwhelmingly white neighborhood around 1990, many of the neighbors actively avoided her.

"It was obvious some were not really pleased we'd moved here," Stokes said. "And even to this day, you know, we're the only African-American couple on the street."

Stokes says she appreciated Haley's work to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol after a white supremacist shot and killed nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston in 2015. But she was disappointed to see Haley – after first criticizing Trump – align herself with him just a few years later.

"It's like, 'Who are you, Nikki Haley?'" she questioned. "Really and truly, who are you?"

Stokes says she is proud of the recognition that Haley has brought to their hometown. But she hopes that Haley will remember the people back home – on both sides of town."