In the Republican rebuttal to the first joint address to Congress by President Joe Biden, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott declared that “America is not a racist country.”
Scott did, however, say he’d “experienced the pain of discrimination” while looking at the camera. “I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason and to be followed around a store while I’m shopping.”
Responses to his surprising assertions were swift, with social media kept abuzz on their audacity overnight.
“Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator currently serving, says he has experienced discrimination both by being stopped by police unfairly and by being called ‘uncle tom’ and the n-word by liberals. America is not a racist country, he says.” Yamiche Alcindor wrote on Twitter.
“Uncle Tim” started trending after Scott’s speech.
“How can calling Tim Scott ‘Uncle Tim’ be racist when he just told everyone this isn’t a racist country?” activist Bree Newsome wrote.
Yvette Nicole Brown tweeted, “Uncle Tim lost me when he said Biden was dividing us after he had sat quietly while Tang destroyed this country for four years. #BoyBye”
The actress wrote her comments in a quote tweet in which a user opined: “You really have to wonder about a party that has to create an entirely fictional world before speaking on any subject. Scott actually said that the US had already turned the corner on Covid when Biden took office. We were losing 4K people a day in January. That’s some corner.”
In his remarks, Scott said “just before COVID, we had the most inclusive economy in my lifetime.”
“The lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians and a 70-year low nearly for women,” he said. “Wages were growing faster for the bottom 25% than the top 25%. That happened because Republicans focused on expanding opportunity for all Americans.”
It would appear that Scott’s race made him the perfect person to respond on behalf of his party, particularly on systemic injustice. President Biden declared that the scourge of white supremacy is the greatest threat to the homeland.
Scott called police who work in Black neighborhoods “brave,” declaring they are not enemies of those communities. “We are not adversaries,” Scott concluded. “We are family.”
One Twitter user called out Scott’s ironic conclusion, noting, “Tim Scott says “We are family”??? But his entire speech was basically a middle finger to EVERYONE but the right.”
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