NEW: Black conservatives are not a monolith. Or unicorns. Or traitors. "I am just a good, old-fashioned American who happens to be Black," is how Sen. Tim Scott summed things up to @thisisinsider at the US Capitol. by @WARojas ($) businessinsider.com/being-a-black-…
The folksy demeanor doesn't stop opponents from lambasting Scott every chance they get. He doesn't need to open Twitter for the hate, as he tends to catch hell any time he voices an unpopular opinion, be it on the Senate floor, the campaign trail, or rebutting President Biden.
"I get called Uncle Tom & the n-word by progressives, by liberals," Scott said in his response to Biden's joint address to Congress.
That same night Texas Democratic Party official Gary O'Connor posted a message on Facebook describing Scott as "an oreo with no real principles."
That same night Texas Democratic Party official Gary O'Connor posted a message on Facebook describing Scott as "an oreo with no real principles."
The Washington Examiner reported that O'Connor resigned due to the subsequent firestorm. And Twitter had to block the derogatory "Uncle Tim" tag from appearing in its trending topics feed.
One of just eight Black Republicans elected to Congress over the last 30 years — compared to the nearly five dozen Democrats currently involved with the Congressional Black Caucus — Scott embraces the idea of leading by example, tackling thorny issues aplenty.
Most recently that workload has included advocating for school choice and negotiating a bipartisan police reform proposal with Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat of New Jersey.
The reward for all his trouble: being damned no matter what. On the one hand, Black conservatives are expected to loudly proclaim that systemic racism just isn't a thing in the America they know and love.
On the other, they must remain silent about a vengeful now-former President Donald Trump who rose to fame by espousing racist conspiracy theories impugning the legitimacy of the country's first Black president.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently praised Scott on a Kentucky TV show, saying that it's "very, very hard to be a conservative Republican African American."
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele says he has no use for any pity or platitudes.
"I don't need any white man or woman to tell me how hard it is to be a Black Republican. I just need you to understand why it's hard … and get why sometimes you're part of the problem."
"I don't need any white man or woman to tell me how hard it is to be a Black Republican. I just need you to understand why it's hard … and get why sometimes you're part of the problem."
Check out the full report from @WARojas with a @thisisinsider subscription and see much more from the entire newsroom. Sign up from here: businessinsider.com/being-a-black-…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
