While Donald Trump was out driving a racial wedge in the electorate, appealing to white grievance, a leading Republican was standing on the Senate floor and telling colleagues that, yes, police do profile black men.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina posted his speech on YouTube. He spoke earlier on the sacrifices police make. You can respect and appreciate police without calling out the ill influences that exist in police-community relations.
“There’s a deep divide between the black community and law enforcement — a trust gap,” Scott said. “I do not know many African American men who do not have a very similar story to tell, no matter their profession, no matter their income, no matter their disposition in life.”
…On Tuesday, Scott praised the sacrifices of police officers; on Wednesday he described the worst of seven incidents with the police since winning public office that had humiliated him.
“The vast majority of time, I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood, or some reason just as trivial,” said Scott. “Imagine the frustration, the irritation, the sense of a loss of dignity that accompanies each of those stops.”
Another time, Scott said, he was entering one of the Senate’s offices wearing the pin that identified him a member of Congress. An officer stopped him, demanding his identification.
“I was thinking to myself: Either he thinks I’m committing a crime, impersonating a member of Congress, or what?” Scott said.