Racism is Strong in the U.S. And Tim Scott Is Lying About It

The freedmen were not really free in 1865, nor are most of their descendants really free in 1965. Slavery was but one aspect of a race and color problem that is still far from solution here, or anywhere. In America, particularly, the grapes of wrath have not yet yielded their bitter vintage. — The Oxford History of the American People [1965], ch.1

I don’t know much about Timothy Eugene Scott, the junior Republican Senator of South Carolina and candidate for President in the 2024 election. So I looked at his website, and after going through it, I couldn’t help coming away with the feeling that Scott has an innate belief that he can be the long-lost dream Republicans had when Obama became the country’s first Black President.

I have always thought the Eisenhower Republicans wanted to see their Party be more receptive and representative of changing dynamics in the country. Had they been the Party to produce the first Black President, that would have been a critical factor toward achieving that goal. Unfortunately, the infiltration of the Racist Dixiecrates, who brought their racism, sexism, and totalitarian mindset, made that a never-obtainable dream.

There are those, Tim Scott among them, who still believe they are the Party of Eisenhower and Regan and the Party of ‘We the People,’ they think they can bring the Party back to where it had the likes of MLK, James Baldwin, Sidney Poitier, and Harry Belafonte among its membership.

I’ve always believed Republicans harbored hope to be the Party that would birth the first President of Color. There was considerable effort to coax the late Colin Powell to throw his hat in the ring, and he had tremendous support. He had everything Republicans could desire. He was a war hero, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Bush’s Secretary General. He ticked off a lot of boxes for Republicans. There was only one problem. His wife told him there was no effing way she would support him and was adamant about it. And that ended that.

With their hopes smashed asunder to purge their Party of the poisonous bile of the Dixie Democrats who infected their Party when Johnson signed the Civil and Voting Rights Acts of 65 and 65, their march to perdition was in full force.

But history is cruel, and Republicans had to endure two terms of Black Democratic President. It wasn’t for the lack of trying. They did everything they could to undermine, degrade, and humiliate him. For reasons historians will never adequately explain, Republicans would not get past their unbridled racism to accept the country had achieved a milestone and had the opportunity to turn the tide on the racist undercurrent that has always permeated our country.

Two years ago, I nearly choked on my coffee when he made that statement in his rebuttal to the State of the Union Address, saying that America is not a racist country. I recall screaming at the TV, ‘Are you fucking kidding me!!’ And to hear him repeat to Eric Erickson. What world does Tim Scott live in? The U.S. is, and since its formation, an abjectly RACIST COUNTRY!

There is an essential aspect of the heritage of the United States Scott glosses over when he makes his dumbass statement about the country not being racist, especially when said racism is pretty darn apparent. It’s not what one would generally think about when people like Scott say the country isn’t racist—it’s that he has to say it at all.

If the U.S. isn’t racist, as Scott claims, then why did he need to proclaim it isn’t?

If the U.S. isn’t racist, as Scott claims, why do white cops get away with using excessive force on Black and Brown people to a level where they are severely injured or die in their custody?

If the U.S. isn’t racist, as Scott claims, why is there still a significant disparity in granting business loans between white and Black small businesses?

If the U.S. isn’t racist, as Scott claims, why did Dylan Roof murder nine Black worshipers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, Payton Gendron ten Black Shoppers at Tops Friendly Supermarket in Buffalo, and Robert Bowers eleven Jewish worshipers at their synagogue in Pittsburg?

If the U.S. isn’t racist, as Scott claims, why, upon the investigation of these murders, police found each of them had their racist manifesto advocating ridding the United States of Blacks, Jews, and Asians and that by killing as many of these non-white individuals, it would purify the country, which they felt was the sole province of white Protestant men and women.

Suppose the U.S. isn’t racist, as Scott claims. How does he explain what took place in Tulsa, Rosewood, and Ocoee, the destruction of thriving Black-owned businesses in those towns by white mobs based on lies and false claims of inappropriate behavior toward white women?  

Senator Scott doesn’t get to gaslight the American public by telling them the country isn’t racist when they experience it overtly or covertly every day. He cannot expect them to accept him as a viable contender to sit behind the Resolute Desk. Not when he is willing to lie about the reality so many who look like him experience every day of their lives and who are small business owners the same as him.

Nor can he expect people to take him seriously by making blanket attacks about Critical Race Theory, a legal concept taught at Law Schools and not in public schools. Senator, you know better (or at least you should), and you know this is nothing more than a fictitious controversy designed by Ron DeSantis and your Party to abrogate the current teaching process and replace it with your Party’s version of indoctrination you accuse Democrats of doing.

Tim Scott will never be President. He doesn’t have what it takes to confront the realities of the lies of those who call themselves believers and supporters of freedom, justice, and liberty. In a way, I find it very discouraging. Why, you might ask? I would think the answer would be obvious. But, the time when Scott’s Republican Party would have welcomed and supported a Black candidate like him has passed. When the Dixiecrats joined the Republican Party, some relatively strong forces managed to keep them under control. That is no longer the case, nor is it the desire of what used to be a sensible Republican Party. The Republican Party Tim Scott believes he is part of is a figment of – and others like him – his imagination.

His comments about the country not being racist are disproven by historical actions. When the first settlers from Europe set foot in the pristine new world, it allowed them to exercise the racism they experienced from their former fellow citizens. Sadly, the seeds of hate, superiority, and retribution took root in this new world they would eventually call The United States of America.   

So, for Timothy Eugene Scott, the junior Senator from South Carolina, to say the US is not a racist country is showing he is a Goddam liar who is stupid beyond belief with absolutely zero chance of becoming the second Black President of this country—a fact he proved in the first Republican debate.

There may come a time when Scott will realize the folly of his ways. I’m not holding my breath because he has been drinking long and hard from the trough of you-to-ism of Republican lies, and based on his performance in the first Republican debate, he showed no signs he is willing to leave the cult that calls itself the Republican Party that continues lying about the US not being a racist country when they know it is.