‘Ask my Democratic colleagues what their staffs look like…I guarantee you won’t like the answer…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, blasted Democrats for referring to him as the “token” black Republican, when they face a diversity problem of their own.
Scott, who was tapped by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead the GOP’s legislative efforts on police reform, said that he’s been repeatedly called a “token” by online users who think he’s “being used.”
Not surprising the last 24 hours have seen a lot of “token” “boy” or “you’re being used” in my mentions. Let me get this straight…you DON’T want the person who has faced racial profiling by police, been pulled over dozens of times, or been speaking out for YEARS drafting this?
— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) June 10, 2020
“And don’t throw ‘you’re the only black guy they know’ at me either,” Scott continued. “There are only two black Democratic senators, stop pretending there’s some huge racial diversity gap in the Senate. Ask my Democratic colleagues what their staffs look like…I guarantee you won’t like the answer.”
Senate Democrats have faced criticism for years for the lack of diversity in their offices.
A 2016 report by Politico found that the vast majority of senior congressional positions in Democratic offices were held by white males, which is an act of “soft bigotry,” according to leftist activists.
Scott, however, plans to focus on criminal justice and law enforcement reform as he works on the GOP’s legislation. The bill will likely focus on increased training on deescalation tactics and more funding for police body cameras, Scott told NPR.
The legislation will aim to address the “obvious racial discrimination that we’ve seen on display on our television screens over the last two weeks,” according to McConnell.
However, it will leave out some of the more radical reforms being proposed by Democrats, such as abolishing qualified immunity for law-enforcement or defunding police departments entirely.
“I basically shy away from telling local law enforcement: You shouldn’t do that or you can’t do this,” Scott said. “I think [the Democratic] bill has a tendency to be seen as perhaps a nationalization of some of the underlying issues or techniques.”