ANKENY, Iowa — Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has underscored there were no “benefits” to slavery after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) escalated tensions with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) over Florida‘s new black history teaching standards.
“As a country founded upon freedom, the greatest deprivation of freedom was slavery,” Scott told reporters Thursday after a town hall in Ankeny. “There’s no silver lining in slavery. … Any benefits that people suggest you had from slavery, you would have had as a free person.”
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Scott denounced slavery as “devastating,” describing it as about “separating families,” “mutilating humans,” and “even raping their wives,” hours after DeSantis defended the Florida Board of Education for approving new black history teaching standards, saying they discuss skills enslaved people developed “in spite of slavery, not because of slavery.” Donalds had criticized some of the standards’ provisions.
“I would hope that every person in our country and certainly running for president would appreciate that,” Scott said, quoting Genesis 1:26. “People have bad days. Sometimes they regret what they say. And we should ask them again to clarify their positions.”
Scott was also asked about the additional charges special counsel Jack Smith brought against former President Donald Trump in the federal classified documents case.
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“At the end, what we all should be very concerned about is the weaponization of the Department of Justice,” the senator said. “We should be very careful about how we use immense power against political opponents. That is not good for the soul of our country.”
“We need Lady Justice to wear a blindfold, and what we’ve seen today, not just with the indictments against the former president but also the current president’s son, with two very different tracks,” he added. “I’ve said consistently that the Department of Justice too often seems to be weaponized against political opponents, but it protects … Democrats at large.”
