‘There is no silver lining to slavery’: Tim Scott joins Florida education row with swipe at 2024 rival Ron DeSantis’ claims slaves could have learned how to become blacksmiths
- 2024 hopeful Tim Scott waded into slavery row among Republicans Thursday
- He said any skills learned as a slave would have been available to free people
- Slavery was about ‘separating families, mutilating humans,’ he said in Iowa
Sen. Tim Scott waded into the row among 2024 Republican candidates over the nation’s slave history, insisting on Thursday evening: ‘There’s no silver lining in slavery.’
It comes as rivals have traded blows over a controversial education policy in Florida, that requires children to learn there were some upsides to a life in bondage.
Gov. Ron DeSantis attracted ridicule when he defended the stance.
Challenged on the policy last week, he said: ‘They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.’
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned ‘extremist’ positions but DeSantis allies have attempted to isolate Black Republicans who have echoed her horror.
Sen. Tim Scott made a campaign stop in Ankeny, Iowa, on Thursday and waded into the slavery controversy. ‘There’s no silver lining in slavery,’ he told reporters after a town hall event
Scott, the only black Republican senator, was asked about the issue after a town hall event just outside Des Moines, Iowa, and did not shy away from the controversy.
And he called on DeSantis to explain exactly what he meant.
‘The truth is anything you can learn … any benefits that people suggest you had during slavery, you would have had as a free person,’ he told reporters.
‘Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans, and even raping their wives. It was just devastating.
‘So I would hope that every person in our country and certainly running for president would appreciate that.
‘Listen people have bad days. Sometimes they regret what they say. And we should ask them again to clarify their positions.’
A day earlier, Rep. Byron Donalds, a close ally of Trump, who is black, attracted the ire of DeSantis allies.
‘The new African-American standards in Florida are good, robust, & accurate,’ he said. ‘That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong and needs to be adjusted.’
Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies have accused Republicans who criticized his slavery stance, such as Rep. Byron Donalds, as siding with Vice President Kamala Harris
Scott made his comments after addressing about 200 Republican voters. His message of unity and optimism has seen him on the move in polls, attracting the fire of other candidates
The states 2023 Social Studies curriculum includes lessons on how ‘slaves developed skills’ that could be used for ‘personal benefit.’
But Donalds’ intervention triggered a Twitter storm among DeSantis staff, who linked him to Harris and suggested that he was doing Trump’s bidding by hitting at his nearest 2024 rival.
Trump aides furiously accused them of smearing Donalds.
And then DeSantis himself joined the fray on Thursday.
‘So at the end of the day, you got to choose,’ he said. ‘Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets?
‘Are you going to side with the state of Florida?’
‘People who walk around and want to be praised as leaders, they want to be talked about as American leaders, pushing propaganda on our children,’ Vice President Kamala Harris said
Harris traveled to Jacksonville, where she railed against the position.
‘Are you kidding me?’ Harris, the nation’s first black vice president, said of the policy.
‘People who walk around and want to be praised as leaders, they want to be talked about as American leaders, pushing propaganda on our children,’ she said.
While she didn’t mention DeSantis by name, Harris repeatedly attacked ‘extremists, so called leaders,’ in the state for the new education policy, for banning books and the so-called Don’t Say Gay law – all of which were DeSantis policies.
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