During Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) speech rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s address to the nation, prominent Leftists on Twitter took Scott to task for daring to say that America is not a racist country. On Thursday morning, Vice President Kamala Harris said the same thing, yet has not received the same vitriol as Scott – or any vitriol at all.
Scott insisted during this speech that “America is not a racist country,” as reported by The Daily Wire.
“Today, kids are being taught that the color of their skin defines them again and if they look a certain way, they’re an oppressor. From colleges to corporations to our culture, people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven’t made any progress at all by doubling down on the divisions we’ve worked so hard to heal,” he said. “You know this stuff is wrong. Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country. It’s backwards [sic] to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present.”
Leftists on Twitter were quick to insist Scott didn’t know what he was talking about, as Alex Griswold noted. Amy Siskind wrote: “Tim Scott says ‘America is not a racist country.’ Not sure how this man lives with himself.” Marc Lamont Hill wrote “Jesus” in response to Scott’s message. In fairness, Hill later condemned white liberals for calling Scott an “Uncle Tom.”
Toure wrote: “Tim Scott complained about being called an Uncle Tom and the n60 seconds later said America is not a racist country.” Scott is called an Uncle Tom by the Left for daring to be a Republican since he is a black man, so Toure’s comment kind of backfired.
University of California-Berkeley professor Robert Reich added: “I could have sworn I heard Senator Tim Scott, the sole Black Republican in the Senate, claim tonight “America is not a racist nation.” But I couldn’t have. That’s absurd.”
Being the only black senator of a particular party doesn’t prove a nation – or even a party – is racist. Besides, there would be more black Republican senators if Democrats didn’t work so hard to defeat them (See: John James in Michigan and many more examples of black Republican House of Representative candidates).
On Thursday morning, Vice President Harris said she agreed with Scott, the New York Post reported.
“No, I don’t think America is a racist country. But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today. And I applaud the president for always having the ability and the courage, frankly, to speak the truth,” Harris said, though she added: “What we know from the intelligence community, one of the greatest threats to our national security is domestic terrorism manifested by white supremacists.”
Despite Harris, who is also black, agreeing with Scott, none of the Leftists who attacked Scott have attack Harris, nor has anyone else.