Tim Scott Responds to Racist Tweets Questioning Blackness for Supporting Sessions
Sen. Tim Scott, 51, the first black Republican congressman from South Carolina since 1897 and currently the only black Republican in the Senate, revealed Wednesday that he has been attacked with racist messages questioning his blackness for supporting President Donald Trump's embattled pick to lead the Department of Justice, Sen. Jeff Sessions.
Sessions was confirmed by the Senate Wednesday to be attorney general in the Trump administration despite fierce Democratic opposition to his nomination over his record on civil rights and immigration.
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Scott revealed he was excoriated as a traitor to his race for supporting Sessions' confirmation, which came mostly along party lines with a 52-47 vote.
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Before reading some of the racist messages he directed at him however, he affirmed his blackness and said nothing will change that fact.
"I know that I don't have to remind my mother or my family but just as a reminder to those who are listening to the conversation that when I leave the U.S. Senate one day, I'm still gonna be black, an African-American. Black every day, black every way and there is no doubt," he said. "This is an important part of the conversation because as I read through some of the comments from my friends on the left, you will wonder if I ever had an experience as a black person in America."
He then read a sample of the messages sent his way over the last several weeks.
"You are a disgrace to the black race," said one message. "You are Uncle Tom Scott. You're for Sessions. How does a black man turn on his own?"
He then noted another message that read, "Sen. Tim Scott is not an Uncle Tom. He doesn't have a shred of honor. He's a house negro like the one in Django," a reference to the film "Django Unchained."
Scott added: "I'm a complete horror. A black man who's a racist against black people. A big Uncle Tom piece of fertilizer."
He skipped mentioning the number of times he was referred to as the N-word because he "just felt like that would not be appropriate."
"You see, what I'm surprised by, just a smidgen, is that the liberal left that speaks and desires for all of us to be tolerant do not want to be tolerant of anyone that disagrees with where they are coming from.
"So the definition of tolerance isn't that all Americans experience a high level of tolerance; it's that all Americans who agree with them experiences this so-called tolerance," he said.
"And I'm not saying this because it bothers me, because frankly, as I said, two decades of this — you don't necessarily get used to it, but you don't find yourself as offended by it all," he explained.
"I just wish that my friends who call themselves liberals would want tolerance for all Americans, including conservative Americans. I just wish that my liberal friends, who are self-described liberal, would want to be innocent until proven guilty and not guilty until proven innocent," he added.
Sessions was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence in an Oval Office ceremony Thursday morning, CBS reported.
President Donald Trump, praised him as "a man of integrity, a man of principle and a man of total, utter resolve."
"He has devoted his life to the cause of justice and believes deeply that all people are equals in the eyes of the law, and very importantly for Jeff and so many of us also in the eyes of God," Trump said.
"This great honor," Sessions responded in brief remarks. "It's something I never expected would happen in my life. ... The honor to lead it now is something I do not have words to express effectively."
