Sen. Tim Scott, the U.S. Senate's only black Republican, described his treatment by police during a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday — a departure from his usual stance in regard to racial subjects.
"While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have however felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted," Scott said,
according to The Wall Street Journal. "I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you are being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself."
Scott, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, described being stopped by officers seven times in one year as an elected official.
“The vast majority of the time I was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood or some other reason just as trivial,” he said.
Scott's personal accounts follow the police shootings of two black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, as well as the lethal ambush against Dallas police that killed five.
“Our country is in many ways a very unstable place from a racial perspective,” Scott said. “I wanted to at least illuminate some of the darker corners of our country in hopes to sparking a real conversation so that we would have an opportunity to heal and to reconcile.”
Scott described the "frustration, the irritation, the sense of a loss of dignity" accompanying being repeatedly stopped by police,
NPR reported.
"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," he said.
U.S. Capitol Police supervisors have three times called to apologize to Scott about treatment, which included "attitude" from one officer working security,
CNN reported.
While acknowledging his troubles and urging others not to ignore racism, Scott also praised police officers and said there is "never, ever an acceptable reason to harm a member of our law enforcement community."
Wednesday's speech was the second of three the Senator planned this week.
Twitter users shared mixed reactions.
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