COMMENTARY: Tim Scott: A Historical Anomaly by C. Ellen Connally

 

When South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott was seven years old, his parents divorced. His  mother worked as a nurse’s assistant — often 16 hours a day. She struggled to keep a roof over the heads of herself and her two sons. The family had to move frequently and times were hard. But by the sweat of her brow, his mother kept food on the table, spending long hours  literally wiping the asses of patients, carrying bedpans, and doing lots of unpleasant tasks that went with her job. One would think that watching his mother’s long hours of toil and living through the trials of poverty in America, Scott would have grown up to be something other than a right-wing conservative. But that’s the way the Oreo cookie crumbles.

Scott’s “no” vote on the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court  shows that Scott is a gutless Republican loyalist who drank the Kool-Aid of GOP  leadership; sucked at the tit of Donald Trump; and walks so close behind his fellow South Carolinian Senator Lindsey Graham, that, if Graham stops too quickly, Scott’s nose will be browner than it currently is. It’s interesting to note that neither Scott nor Graham are married. Both say they were never able to find the right woman.

One hundred and five years before Scott’s birth in 1965, his home state of South Carolina seceded from the Union rather than face the prospects of freeing Scott’s enslaved ancestors. Although he grew up in an age of integrated schools, Scott’s parents did not. They would have attended segregated schools that were so underfunded by the State of South Carolina that they barely were able to provide a basic education to students. His parents were not allowed to vote or ride in the front of a public bus. But if you follow the Republican way of thinking, children will never learn these basic facts of America in school.

Scott is currently the only Black man to have served in both the United States House of Representatives and  the United States  Senate. The last Republican Black man to serve in the Senate was Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, who left in 1979. Scott was appointed to the Senate by then-Governor Nikki Haley in 2013, retaining his seat in 2014 and winning a full term in 2016. He is the only Black person in the history of the Palmetto State to be elected to the Senate.

A former insurance agent, Scott first got into politics by serving on the county council of his local government in North Charleston, South Carolina. He moved on to the South Carolina House of Representatives and then to the United States House of Representatives.

Until 1967 when President Lyndon Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the United States Supreme Court it was an unwritten law — Blacks and women need not apply. It wasn’t until 1991 that a woman was appointed to the Supreme Court. That came with the appointment of Sandra Day O’Conner — who won confirmation 99-0. Now, at this historic moment in history of American jurisprudence, a time to celebrate the diversity of our nation, Tim Scott turns his back on the progress that our nation has made toward equality and diversity and votes thumbs down on a highly qualified nominee of his own race.

When Tim Scott looks in the mirror, he will still see a black face. When he goes to the back woods of his own state, some folks will call him the n-word until they find out who he is. Then they’ll call him the n-word behind his back.

Someone had better go and check the plot at Arlington National Cemetery where Thurgood Marshall is buried and the crypt in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr. was laid to rest. They are both are probably turning over in their graves. Clarence Thomas, at the direction of his wife, is probably sending Scott a congratulatory telegram.

Malcolm X famously called Booker T. Washington history’s greatest Uncle Tom. He died before he got to meet Tim Scott.

 

 

C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and past president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron. 

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2 Responses to “COMMENTARY: Tim Scott: A Historical Anomaly by C. Ellen Connally”

  1. Audrey Callahan

    Great articles

  2. Tom Kulick

    Judge Connally’s Commentary regarding Mr. Scott and Mr. Graham was spot on. My wife and I lived in South Carolina for over 32 years until we moved last July to downtown Cleveland to be closer to family. I refer to them both as “Mr.” and in my many, many emails to both of them over the years I told them neither deserved the honor of my calling them “senator.” Mr. Graham I can sort of understand being a Trump toady because he loves to get to play golf for free at Mr. Trump’s golf courses. For the life of me, I can’t understand Mr. Scott’s admiration for such a racist sleazebag as Trump. I did have some passing dealings with Mr. Scott when I was a member of my local fire district’s commission, and he was on and chair of the Charleston County Council. I did not find him to be the most intellectually astute person that I have ever met. Judge Connally is as obviously as stumped as I am about Mr. Scott and his views regarding Mr. Trump.

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