In an unusually personal speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Tim Scott on Wednesday spoke about his experience with law enforcement as a black man.
“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.
There is absolutely nothing more frustrating, more damaging to your soul, than when you know you're following the rules and being treated like you are not. Sen Tim Scott, R-S.C.
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.
“I do not know many African-American men who do not have a very similar story to tell,” he said.
He spoke about a former staffer who drove a Chrysler 300 – “a nice car to be sure, but not a Ferrari by any means” – who ended up buying a different car just so he would not be looked at with suspicion.
“There is absolutely nothing more frustrating, more damaging to your soul, than when you know you’re following the rules - and being treated like you aren’t,” he said his staffer told him.
In 2014, Scott became the first black senator elected in the South since Reconstruction.
He pointed out that having been frustrated by the same experiences, he understands the “trust gap that has been growing for decades” between the black community and law enforcement.
“I shuddered when I heard Eric Garner say, ‘I can't breathe.’ I cried when I watched Walter Scott turn, run - and get shot in the back. And I broke, when I heard the four-year-old daughter of Philando Castile’s girlfriend tell her mother ‘It's ok, I'm right here with you,’” he said. “These are people, lost forever. Fathers, brothers, sons.”
Scott’s first speech on Monday focused on the heroism of most law enforcement officers, calling them “true American heroes” who should not be retaliated against for the actions of a few.
In 2014, Scott became the first black senator elected in the South since Reconstruction.
The carefully spoken Charleston native has become more vocal about race relations after incidents of police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City and his home state sparked nationwide outrage last summer, as well as the deaths of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston by a white supremacist.
The video of the death of Walter Scott, an unarmed 50-year-old black man who was shot and killed when he was fleeing from a cop in North Charleston, drove Scott to push for body camera funding in Congress.
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures,” Scott said last July when he proposed to authorize $100 million in grants for police departments to pay for body cameras for their officers to wear on patrol.
In his third and final speech, scheduled for Thursday, Scott plans to discuss a way forward for the country after last week’s events and focus on a message of unity, his office said.
“Today, I simply ask of you this: recognize that just because you do not feel the pain, the anguish of another, does not mean it does not exist,” he said. “To ignore their struggles does not make them disappear, it simply leaves you blind, and the American family very vulnerable.”
Recognize that just because you do not feel the pain, the anguish of another, does not mean it does not exist. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Several lawmakers have spoken out about last week’s deaths of Alton Sterling, who was filmed being held down by police and shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile, who was killed during a traffic stop in St. Paul, Minnesota while his girlfriend live-streamed it on Facebook.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the only other black Senator, struck a similar note on Wednesday speaking on the Senate floor.
“This has been a tough week. It's been a week of frustration and grief and sadness,” he said. “It's a time that this very body should be saying to America, hey, we have got challenges but we can find common ground.”
After Scott yielded the floor, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., thanked him for speaking candidly about his experiences, especially given the lack of diversity in the chamber.
“As much as all of us want to walk in each other’s shoes, because each of us has different experiences in our lives, it really matters who’s in the room, who’s at the microphone, who’s sharing the truth” she said. “And you have shared a truth with us today.”
Vera Bergengruen: 202-383-6036, @verambergen
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