Sen. Tim Scott, (R-S.C.) delivers the Republican response to President Joe Biden's speech to a joint session of Congress, April 28, 2021. (Senate Television via AP). Vice President Kamala Harris applauds as Biden during the joint session of Congress, April 28, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
President Joe Biden spoke about white supremacy and racism during his first joint address to Congress. The GOP response, delivered by Sen. Tim Scott, the African-American Republican from South Carolina, is getting attention.
The main point of Scott’s rebuttal: “America is not a racist country.”
The only Black Republican in the upper chamber, Scott said that while he has “experienced the pain of discrimination,” America is not racist, Politico reported.
Scott said on Wednesday said that “people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven’t made any progress, by doubling down on the divisions we’ve worked so hard to heal.
“It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present,” he continued.
In his joint address on Wednesday, Biden said that the U.S. has “a giant opportunity to bend to the arc of the moral universe toward justice” and a “real chance to root out systemic racism that plagues American life in many other ways.”
During an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Vice President Kamala Harris said she agreed with Scott.
“First of all, no, I don’t think America is a racist country,” Harris said. “But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country, and its existence today.”
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Harris added, “I applaud the president for always having the ability and courage, frankly, to speak the truth about it.”
Harris explained that white supremacist domestic terrorism is a leading threat to U.S. national security. “These are issues that we must confront, and it doesn’t help to heal our country, to unify us as a people, to ignore the realities of that,” she said.
The Moguldom Nation founder Jamarlin Martin tweeted, “The system on ‘both sides’ uses race to protect herself, uses it in a politically perverted way. It’s very smart. They use it to delay & trick.”
Meanwhile, Black Twitter dug into Scott and “Uncle Tim” began trending, The Hill reported.
Comedian @mikeyardcomedy tweeted, “Let’s keep it real. @TimScottSC’ s message wasn’t for black folks, we already know where we live. That was to make his masters feel better. #GoodBoy”.
BrooklynDad_Defiant! @mmpadellan tweeted, “BREAKING: Emergency rooms across America are reporting a spike of people whose eyes are permanently stuck in eye roll after Tim Scott said ‘America is not a racist country'”.
Scott, 55, has been in discussions with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) to reach a consensus on police reform legislation. He introduced a police reform bill last summer that focused on creating incentives for local police departments to reform their policies.
George#VotesBlueAlways @Numbers28 tweeted, “Am I the only one who concluded that the corrupt, reactionary, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, pathological lying, treasonous and genocidal Russian intelligence former guy wrote Tim Scott’s response last night? If he’s who has been working with democrats, then we’re in trouble.”
