Ava DuVernay Weighs In On Nikki Haley’s Civil War Remarks, Calls Them A ‘Wake-Up Call’

Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay had some things to say about Nikki Haley’s controversial Civil War comments.

DuVernay talked with activist and civil rights leader Al Sharpton during an episode of MSNBC’s “Politics Nation” to give her take on the presidential candidate’s remarks. During a town hall event in New Hampshire, a potential voter questioned Haley’s knowledge of the Civil War, and the former South Carolina governor failed to identify slavery as the leading cause of the war. While her lack of response received pushback from people nationwide, the “Origin” director says she wasn’t shocked at all, describing the comments as “real warnings that I think we should all heed.”

“Either she didn’t know that slavery was the reason for the Civil War beginning,” DuVernay replied, “Or she doesn’t want to say and wants to kind of continue the lies of omission that have become the hallmark of her party.”

Haley told the voter the “cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run.” “The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was or argument?” When the questioner pushed the fact that she failed to even mention slavery in her response, she inquired about what he really wanted her to say about it. “What do you want me to say about slavery? Next question.”

According to the Associated Press, Haley changed her tune several hours later. “Of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” she said during a radio interview, referring to slavery as “a stain on America.” However, the damage is done. DuVernay hopes that comments like Haley’s will be looked as a “wake-up call” for what has happened and what’s to come. “My hope is that it is a wake-up call to the dangerous kind of deranged idea that history doesn’t matter anymore, and that’s one of the big reasons why I wanted to make this film.”

Starring Oscar-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, the biographical drama tells the story of Isabel Wilkerson, journalist and author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Her groundbreaking book focuses on racism in the United States being a concept of the case system – often characterized by notions such as hierarchy and purity – while the movie covers her calling to write the book.

Origin hits theaters on Jan. 19.