Nikki Haley on Thursday pushed back on criticism by CNN "New Day" anchor Brianna Keilar after the former U.N. ambassador declared that the U.S. is not a "racist" country in a speech at the Reagan Presidential Library. During Wednesday morning's "Roll the Tape" segment, Keilar accused the former governor of whitewashing the "ups and downs of the American experience with racism and the challenges still ahead, all apparently to appeal to the conservative base." Haley said on "The Faulkner Focus" the liberal media "can't stand it" when minorities praise America.

CNN'S BRIANNA KEILAR LECTURES NIKKI HALEY ON RACISM IN AMERICA AFTER FORMER GOVERNOR SAID US ISN'T RACIST

NIKKI HALEY: Well, it sounds like I hit a nerve. Secondly, it's amazing to me how the liberal media can't stand it when someone Black or brown happens to talk about the fact that America is the best country in the world. The fact that we are blessed to be free and blessed to live in America. I'm going to keep saying it. We should all talk about the blessings of America. We're not a perfect country, but every day our focus is to make today better than yesterday. And that's how I was raised. I was raised to have hope. 

I was raised in America, did have challenges as we were going, but I also was raised to live and see that me, a brown family in a small southern rural town, the people when they used to whisper about us are used to exclude us. I saw something very American happen because they started to smile at us. They started to talk to us and they welcomed us in. And that's the part of America that I was raised in, and that's the part of America I'm proud of. And that same state elected me as the first female and first minority governor. And you can't say that we're a racist country. You just can't and they can't stand it when a brown Republican says that. 

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