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‘Proud to be’ Black and Republican: Tim Scott defends ‘woke supremacy’ remarks

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South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) this week defended his remarks that “woke supremacy” is as bad as white supremacy.

“My comments were a sound-bite-length reaction to yet another media figure accusing me of being a token for Republicans,” Scott wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday, saying he was responding an opinion piece the newspaper published last week calling the senator a “fool” for his comments.

On March 8, Scott made his initial “woke supremacy” comments when firing back at MSNBC host Joy Reid for accusing the GOP of using him as a “patina of diversity”.

In his Tuesday piece, Scott explained that he was not “comparing the long history of racial hate to the very short history of wokeism” and that he is “painfully aware that four centuries of racism, bigotry and killings does not compare to the nascent woke movement.”

“I spoke out,” he wrote, “because I am gravely concerned for our future if we ignore either type of supremacy,” saying both “are rooted in racism or discrimination.”

Being the first Black senator from South Carolina, Scott has served in the upper congressional chamber since 2013. He is joined by only two other Black senators.

The senator then illustrated the racist comments he has endured for being a Black Republican and argued that woke supremacists believe diversity doesn’t matter if it isn’t paired with progressive thinking, to which Scott said, “my ideology does not match that which they prescribe based on my complexion.”

“It is the ‘tolerant’ left’s intolerance for dissent,” Scott added. “It is a progressive conception of diversity that does not include diversity of thought. It is discrimination falsely marketed as inclusion.”

“I am proud to be both a Black man and a Republican,” he also stated. “Because of those aspects of my identity, many critics have ignored things I have actually done,” he continued, going on to list his accomplishments in Congress such as securing funding for historically Black colleges and fighting for school choice, among other things.

“Critics discount these accomplishments for the Black community because it conflicts with the caricature they’ve created of what it means to be Black and to be a Republican,” Scott wrote.

Toward the end of his Washington Post op-ed, the senator painted a picture of an increasingly divided and segregated America, blaming “woke culture”.

Closing out his piece, Scott brought up the late civil-rights icon and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), whom the senator described as “my friend,” and when Lewis asked him to co-chair the march on Selma back in 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

“When I think of my vision for America,” Scott wrote, “I think about standing shoulder to shoulder on that bridge with John and Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, walking forward together.”

Scott then concluded that the United States can let “woke culture” continue to divide the the country, “or we can choose to create equality of opportunity and access to the American Dream for everyone.”

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

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BREAKING: Disney drops suit challenging special district status in settlement with Florida, DeSantis

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A settlement was reached Wednesday in the two-year lawsuit over who controls the special governing district that encompasses the Walt Disney World Resort, which includes Disney dropping its lawsuitsagainst a newly created tourism board.

“We are glad that Disney has dropped its lawsuits against the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and conceded that their last-minute development agreements are null, void, and unenforceable,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ communications director, said in a statement. “No corporation should be its own government. Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

Fox News explains the dispute began “after Disney’s criticism of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act – derided by critics as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill – prompted the DeSantis administration to revoke the special Disney-controlled tax district that gave the entertainment autonomy over its theme parks in the region.”

“No corporation should be its own government,” Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for the governor, said in an emailed statement. “Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

Misleadingly deemed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, prohibited the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity to young students in the state. National Review reports:

After receiving pressure from employees, Disney’s then-CEO, Bob Chapek, said that the company’s leaders had been opposed to the bill “from the outset,” and Disney declared that the legislation “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.”

In February 2023, DeSantis signed House Bill 9B, which established the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to replace Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District. Reedy Creek was a 56-year-old special taxing district that allowed Disney control its own development, regulations, building codes, and other municipal services.

Lawmakers voted to give the governor the power to appoint the district’s board members.

However, before a DeSantis-appointed board took over last March, the Disney-controlled board handed control of the district’s development over to Disney…

As part of the settlement, Disney acknowledges that the development agreement approved by the outgoing Reedy Creek board has “no legal effect or enforceability.”

As for the media reports that DeSantis had been humiliated and out-maneuvered by Disney, Griffin said that “as usual, the media were wrong.”

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