Scott Campaign Press Release - Tim Scott On The View: "Yesterday's Exception Is Today's Rule."

"[My grandfather] believed then, what some doubt now: in the goodness of America. Because he believed that having faith in God, faith in himself, and faith in what the future could hold for his kids, would unleash opportunities in ways that you cannot imagine." 

NEW YORK CITY, NY –  This morning, Tim Scott joined ABC's 'The View' to respond to their "dangerous, offensive, disgusting message" about race and opportunity.

Watch here

Tim Scott
The View
June 5, 2023

Sunny Hostin: When it comes to racial inequality, it persists in five core aspects of life in the U.S., economics, education, healthcare, criminal justice, and housing. At nearly every turn, these achievements were fought, threatened, and erased most often by White violence. You have indicated that you don't believe in systemic racism. What is your definition of systemic racism? 

Tim Scott: One of the things that I think about, and one of the reasons why I'm on the show is because of the comments that were made, frankly, on this show, that the only way for a young African American kid to be successful in this country is to be the exception and not the rule. That is a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today, that the only way to succeed is by being the exception. I will tell you that if my life is the exception, I can't imagine it is. So the fact of the matter is we've had an African-American president, African-American vice president. We've had two African-Americans to be secretaries of the state, in my home city, the police chief is an African-American who's now running for mayor. The head of the highway patrol for South Carolina is African American. In 1975 there was about 15% employment in the African American community and for the first time in the history of the country it is under 5%.

Here's what I'm gonna suggest... The fact of the matter is that progress in America is palpable. It can be measured in generations. I look back at the fact that my grandfather born in 1921 in Sally, South Carolina, when he was on a sidewalk, a white person was coming. He had to step off and not make eye contact. That man believed then what some doubt now: in the goodness of America. Because he believed that having faith in God, faith in himself, and faith in what the future could hold for his kids, would unleash opportunities in ways that you cannot imagine.

Every kid today can look – just change the stations and see how much progress has been made in this country. ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ESPN, CNN, and Fox News, all have African-American and Hispanic hosts. So what I'm suggesting is that yesterday's exception is today's rule.The concept of America is that we are going to become a more perfect union. But in fact, the challenges that we faced 50 years ago and 60 years ago should not be the same challenges that we face today. And here's the way that you measure that. When my mother was born, about 10% of African Americans got a high school degree, diploma, today it is over 90%... One of the reasons why I took the funding for HBCUs to the highest level in the history of the country, and then I helped make it permanent is because I believe that education is the closest thing to magic in America. So I'm about making sure that our kids have as many opportunities to succeed as possible.