Sen. Tim Scott responds to racist attacks against him after declaring America 'is not a racist country'



Republican Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) addressed Sunday the liberal backlash surrounding his declaration that America is "not a racist country," which resulted in Scott being targeted with racist condemnation.

What is the background?

After Scott absolved America of being inherently racist, liberals called Scott "Uncle Tim," MSNBC host Tiffany Cross suggested that Scott is a slave of the Republican Party and claimed Harriet Tubman would have "left [Scott] behind]," and a Democratic leader in Texas called Scott an "Oreo."

Democratic leaders — including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) — made the same declaration about America last week, but they were not subjected to the same racist attacks as Scott.

How did Scott respond?

Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," Scott denounced the attacks against him — and their posture on this issue more broadly — as "bigotry" and "hypocrisy."

"Fighting bigotry with bigotry is hypocrisy," Scott said.

The Republican senator was explaining that Americans should be exploring how to address the "lingering effect" of slavery, Jim Crow, racism, and discrimination, rather than debating whether America is inherently racist.

"Let me say, thank goodness that finally our president, our vice president and one of the leaders in the Democratic caucus in the House, Jim Clyburn, have all come forward and said exactly what I've been saying for a long time. America is not a racist country," Scott said.

"The question is: Is there a lingering effect after a couple of centuries of racism and discrimination in this nation? The answer is absolutely," he continued.

"The question we should be debating and fighting over is: How do we resolve those issues going forward? One side says, 'I'm going to take from some to give to others,'" Scott explained. "Our side, what I've suggested, is: Let's expand opportunity and make sure that we are fully equipped for the challenges of the future."

Tim Scott says "significant numbers" of Republicans willing to support police reform www.youtube.com

Earlier in the interview, Scott explained why he is leading the Republican effort on police reform in the Senate.

The South Carolina Republican said he understands being unfairly targeted by police, but also knows the reality of how police officers serve their communities.

"I personally understand the pain of being stopped 18 times driving while black," Scott said. "I also have seen the beauty of when officers go door-to-door with me on Christmas morning delivering presents to kids in the most underserved communities."

"So, I think I bring an equilibrium to the conversation. One of the reasons why I'm hopeful is because in a way, this time my friends on the left aren't looking for the issue. They're looking for a solution," he added.

Twitter blocks racist 'Uncle Tim' slur against Sen. Tim Scott — but not til several hours after it started trending



Twitter took enforcement action on Thursday morning to block a racist trending topic that disparaged U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) after he delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress.

During his rebuttal Wednesday evening, Scott declared that "America is not a racist country" and condemned divisive rhetoric on race in politics. He said that he's experienced intolerance even from self-proclaimed liberals and progressives who have called him an "Uncle Tom" or used slurs like the n-word to attack him.

"I have experienced the pain of discrimination," Scott said. "I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason. To be followed around a store while I'm shopping."

"I've also experienced a different kind of intolerance," he continued. "I get called 'Uncle Tom' and the N-word — by 'progressives'! By liberals! Just last week, a national newspaper suggested my family's poverty was actually privilege because a relative owned land generations before my time."

After Scott concluded his address, progressives on Twitter began calling him "Uncle Tim," demonstrating exactly the kind of racist intolerance Scott condemned. So many accounts participated in the racist attacks on the black senator from South Carolina that "Uncle Tim" became a trending topic on Twitter, in violation of its community guidelines.

As such, on Thursday morning Twitter finally stopped "Uncle Tim" from trending.

A spokesperson for Twitter told Fox News the social media platform is "blocking the phrase ... from appearing in Trends."

"This is in line with our policies on Trends," the spokesperson said, adding that the purpose of Trends is "to promote healthy conversations on Twitter."

"This means that at times, we may not allow or may temporarily prevent content from appearing in Trends until more context is available," the spokesperson said. "This includes Trends that violate The Twitter Rules."

Twitter told Fox News that Trends are "determined by an algorithm and, by default, are tailored for you based on who you follow, your interests, and your location."

"This algorithm identifies topics that are popular now, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help you discover the hottest emerging topics of discussion on Twitter," the spokesperson said.

Twitter would not say why it did not immediately act to block the racist attacks on Scott from trending Wednesday evening.

Sen. Scott responded to his critics on Fox News Thursday morning, saying that "Uncle Tim" trending on Twitter shows that progressives have "doubled down on this concept of liberal oppression."

"You cannot step down out of your lane according to the liberal elite left," Scott said, calling the Twitter trend "upsetting" and "so disappointing."

"What they want for us is for us to stay in a small corner and not go against the tide that they think is America," he said. "Their America and my America are not the same if they think that discriminating is the fastest way to end discrimination."

"Intolerance so often comes from the left with words like 'Uncle Tim' being used against me by the left, and last night what was trending on social media was 'Uncle Tim,' he added. "It is stunning in 2021 that those who speak about ending discrimination want to end it by more discrimination."

Tim Scott says 'America is not a racist country.' Liberals immediately try to prove him wrong by calling him racist epithets.



After Republican Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) delivered an impassioned rebuttal to President Joe Biden's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, declaring that despite the president's claims, "America is not a racist country," liberals on Twitter immediately tried to discredit his claims by launching racial epithets at him.

What did he say?

In the speech, Scott acknowledged that while America's racial "healing" remains an unfinished task, no amount of divisive rhetoric from Democratic politicians and progressive media figures could diminish the progress the country has made toward racial equality.

Such progress is powerfully embodied in his own family's history, Scott suggested, pointing out that his family has gone from "cotton to Congress" in the span of one lifetime — a fact which, egregiously, was called into question by liberal Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler last week.

Sen. Tim Scott delivers GOP rebuttal to Biden's remarks | FULLyoutu.be

The South Carolina lawmaker went on to note that, in many cases, Democrats are the ones who exhibit racism in their politics and policy.

He recalled that last year, after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, he built a police reform bill to address concerns over unchecked instances of police brutality in America. But Democrats blocked the bill from ever being debated in Congress by using a political tactic they now insist is racist — the filibuster.

"My friends across the aisle seemed to want the issue more than they wanted a solution," he charged.

He later referred to Georgia's new voting law, which actually expands early voting opportunity in the state, but which Democrats — including the president — have falsely branded as the new "Jim Crow."

Republicans have an interest in making it "easier to vote and harder to cheat," Scott said, but Democrats, on the other hand, are only interested in "virtue-signaling."

"Race is not a political weapon to settle every issue the way one side wants. It's far too important," Scott said to close out discussion on the topic.

What was the response?

Stopping at nothing to discredit his assessment that "America is not a racist country," liberals immediately launched a racist offensive against Scott on social media, using racial epithets.

Following Scott's speech, mentions of "Uncle Tim" surfaced so many times on Twitter that it became a trend.

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Others shied away from that specific term, but still delivered the same racist message.

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

Image Source: Twitter screenshot

What was your excuse for these 4 tweets? https://t.co/N3fQby2X2U https://t.co/0tl9ogvTrh
— Cameron Cawthorne (@Cameron Cawthorne)1619667500.0

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote: "There is a certain irony to the fact that Leftists have determined to be as racist as possible to Tim Scott in order to prove him wrong when he says America isn't racist."