US Republican Steve King asked how ‘white supremacist’ became an offensive term. Furious black colleague Tim Scott explained
- Senator Tim Scott launched a blistering attack on Congressman Steve King, saying his remarks damaged Republicans, conservatism, and the US as a whole
- King had asked how ‘white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilisation’ had become offensive concepts
The lone black Republican in the US Senate launched a blistering attack Friday on a fellow Republican congressman who has been accused of making racist comments.
“Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism – it is because of our silence when things like this are said,” Senator Tim Scott said of the remarks by Representative Steve King of Iowa.
King, in an interview with The New York Times this week, asked how the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” had become offensive to Americans.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilisation – how did that language become offensive?” King said. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilisation?”
Scott responded to King’s remarks with a column in The Washington Post, and they were also denounced by several other members of the Republican Party.