South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said people need to look toward the country’s future, not “reframe the past” as protests decrying racism spread across the country.
Scott, the only black Republican senator, joined the podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz and the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles to discuss race relations in the country as activists and vandals tear down statues of historical figures.
“I also think the country is better off trying to create the future than reframe the past,” Scott said. “We spend almost too much time in the rear-view mirror and not enough time in the windshield. It’s hard not to get in an accident when all your focus is on yesterday. For us to reframe the past doesn’t benefit almost anyone. So, if we want to reframe the past, however, put up more statues. Put up a statue of not just Martin Luther King Jr. What about Rosa Parks? Or Booker T. Washington? Washington Carver? There’s a lot of folks that we can celebrate. But, tearing something down does not necessarily build you up, number one.”
Statues across the country have been vandalized or destroyed in recent weeks as people protest police brutality and racism. The protesters have mainly targeted statues depicting historical figures associated with the Confederacy and slavery. They have also gone after statues depicting Christopher Columbus, Presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and others.
Elected officials are also taking action against monuments that many have deemed offensive. For instance, the mayor of Richmond, Virginia, ordered the removal of all Confederate statues on city land.
“Number two, why aren’t we spending the time on economic mobility?” Scott added. “Why are we not spending the time on educational outcomes in poor zip codes in America? Why are we not spending the time on creating financial literacy? And frankly, literacy to break the pipeline between education and incarceration? If you want to spend all the money in the world on something, please let it not be on tearing down a statue. Let us spend the dollars and the resources on building the future where every single American says, ‘Yes. That’s my country.’”
The South Carolina senator revealed in June that he has been on the receiving end of threats after unveiling a police reform bill with members of his party.
Scott told his Republican colleagues at a luncheon that he has received various voicemails in which his life was threatened and that he was called “Uncle Tim,” the New York Times reported. One message recommended that he “take your one-way ticket straight to hell,” while another caller said he wanted to put the only black Republican senator “in his crosshairs.” Other threats also mentioned Scott’s family.
“It’s interesting that we are on the right side of the police reform conversation, yet we’re on the wrong side according to the people, based on the way that we are characterized in the national press,” Scott said.
