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As an Indian American, Haley has experienced racism throughout her life, even as a child. According to a 2011 interview in The Atlantic, a 4-year-old Haley and her 8-year-old sister were kicked out of a beauty pageant in their hometown because the judges “were baffled over what to do with the two Indian American girls.” The pageant typically crowned one white and one African American winner, the magazine reported. “At intermission, they called all the contestants on the stage: white girls on one side, black girls on the other, with the Haley sisters standing alone in the middle. The judges then announced that they had to disqualify the sisters, and handed each of them crayons and a coloring book. Before ushering them off the stage, they let Nikki sing the song she had prepared, ‘This Land Is Your Land.'”
