Black Republican Party Senator Tim Scott spoke from the floor of the U.S. Senate and shared details of encounters he’s had in recent times with police. Sen. Scott said that he has been a victim of racial profiling, and gave light to an issue that has long plagued law enforcement issues over the years.
Scott delivered the remarks from the Senate on Wednesday, the second in a planned trio of speeches in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the five Dallas police officers slain last week Scott added during his speech that he was stopped seven times in one year and had to defend his identity as an elected official on Capitol Hill.
The Charlotte Observer reports:
“I have felt the anger, frustration, sadness and humiliation that comes with feeling like you’re being targeted for nothing more than being yourself,” the South Carolina Republican told his colleagues.
It was the second of three planned speeches following last week’s shootings of two black men by police, and the retaliatory shooting of five Dallas officers. Scott admitted that Wednesday’s remarks were the most personal, and therefore the most difficult.
“In the course of one year, I’ve been stopped seven times by law enforcement officers,” he said. “Not four, not five, not six, but seven times in one year as an elected official.”
He shared several of his experiences with law enforcement – of the cops who terrified him as a teenager by pulling him over for a busted headlight, of the suspicious policemen who followed him for driving a nice car, even of officers at the U.S. Capitol who asked to see his badge despite the distinctive pin marking him as a senator.
Scott also mentioned the tragic deaths of Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and said his emotions “broke” when looking at the video of a suffering Castile and hearing the daughter of Castile’s girlfriend in the background. Scott’s speech has been the most pointed message regarding the tensions in the nation from the GOP.
Sen. Barbara Boxer praised Scott and Democratic Party Sen. Cory Booker, the other Black senator, for their efforts.
Watch Sen. Tim Scott’s emotional account regarding racial profiling in the clip below.
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Photo: screen cap
