WEBVTT - A Look Inside Senator Tim Scott’s Voicemail Box 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.960 Made your tensions around the country on the police, on 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:09.960 criminal justice, on race. Some anarchists are talking about defunding 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:13.240 the police, abolish the police, ginning up racial tensions. Well, 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.960 we have a serious person here who can speak with 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:20.520 great authority on real criminal justice reform and on real 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:24.280 racial experiences in America. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.240 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles. 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.920 We will get to our special guest in just one second, 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.160 but first I have to thank you so much. We've 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:42.200 now got over ten million downloads on this podcast, and 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.760 it's all thanks to you. I really exceeded our expectations 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:46.680 and we're so glad to be able to continue to 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.479 do it. Please head over on Apple Podcasts. I leave 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.320 a five star review if you would like to, and 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:52.840 if you want to leave less than don't leave anything 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.400 at all. Thank you very much, and please go subscribe 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.840 wherever you listen to podcasts. All right, because the Senator 0:00:59.920 --> 0:01:02.280 is the greatest booking producer in the history of podcasts. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.520 I am joined by Senator Tim Scott. He is really 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.280 good at what he does, not just in podcast world, 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:12.000 but in their all worlds. I am so glad. First 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.759 of all, Senator Cruz, thank you for bringing Senator Scott on. 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:20.080 Senator Scott, you are behind you or the author behind 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.959 probably the most significant piece of legislation that the Senate 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:29.240 is considering right now. That would be the Justice Act. Yes, listen, 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.680 I'm excited about the Justice side. I wish our Democrat 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.280 colleagues were more excited about not the Justice Act only, 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.400 but about actually serving the community that has been wed 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.480 to the Democrat Party for generations. And they continue to 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:47.680 under deliver while overpromising. Instead of taking eight today, giving 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:49.760 them an opportunity to say to the people and the 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.360 communities across the country, we hear you, we see you, 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.920 we are fighting for you. We could have gotten eighty 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.600 percent delivered today. They gave the community zero. They decided 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.000 to make an an election year issue, an election in 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:07.920 November issue, presidential election issue. And that's just so unfortunate 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.520 for so many kids living in underserved communities, worried about 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.079 making it from their house to the school, always having 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:18.359 in the back of their consciousness whether or not an 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.640 interaction well in poorly for them. We could have said 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.720 we see you today. I think what would be helpful 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:30.120 to podcast listeners and viewers. Is knowing some of your 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.360 personal story. This this is a faith journey in a 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.640 life journey for me. Yes, absolutely, And and so you 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.000 know you grew up, you had you had a pretty 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:41.120 tough upbringing. Absolutely. I grew up in a single parent 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.160 household who mired in poverty. My mother and father got 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.359 divorced when I was about seven years old. I felt 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:51.240 like this nation, my community, had nothing to offer me. 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.400 So from seven years old, when you come to that 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:58.040 decision at seven, it's a bad thing. You drift, and 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.600 all drifting leads in their own directions. So by seven, 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.799 from seven to fourteen, I was completely a draft her. 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.000 I flunked out of high school. As a freshman, I 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.720 felt world geography and Civics. Now, Civics is the study 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.760 of politics, So God has a sense of humor. You 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.280 can't failing civics in name while arriving in the body 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.920 that the most deliberative body in the history. Right. I 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:22.280 also realized that after being here seven years, I'm not 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:27.480 the only one failing civics in the US. I also 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.560 felt Spanish in English that year. When you feel Spanish 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.839 and English two languages, no one considers you bilingual. They 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.040 all call you by ignorant because you can't speak in 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.720 any language. But I had two major blessings, a mother 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.640 who believed that the power of prayer would deliver her child, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.440 and a mentor, a white guy who said, you haven't 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:52.400 yet discovered was in you. You're looking around at your circumstances. 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.840 He said, that's a wrong view. Your vision has to 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.600 be bigger than the vision you see on the outside. 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.320 And he said, if you look at the mirror and 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.720 you start blaming yourself, don't blame your dad because he's 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.280 not around. Do not blame your mother because she's working 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.680 sixteen hours three days a week and eight hours two 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:11.520 more days a week to put food on the table. 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.920 He should blame yourself. He said. The beauty of it is, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.080 if you're the problem, the promise is in here. If 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:21.520 you see the opportunities from the inside, the obstacles from 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:23.800 the inside, the opportunities manifests on the osite. And yet, 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:27.320 what do you make of seeing churches now going up 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.479 in flames. There's a prominent BLM activist on Twitter. He 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:34.040 said that people need to smash stained glass windows at churches. 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.840 That doesn't seem productive to me. Well, it's also the 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:41.719 opposite of productive. I would say that that person. I 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.760 wonder what Martin Luther King Junior would say that that person. 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.320 I wonder what John Lewis, who was beaten within an 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.160 inch of his life and never struck back, what would 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.960 he say at the Pettis Bridge when he's nearly bleeding out. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:56.560 He would say this because he said it to me. 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:02.039 Don't get better, get better, Embrace your nation. Know that 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.880 if you continue on your journey, it will happen. We 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.719 took a five thousand year leap in the last fifty years, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.279 mostly because of non violent protesters who believed in America. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:18.000 Frederick Douglas did the exact same thing. Yeah, he said, 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:23.240 I'm not fighting against the Constitution. I'm fighting on the constitution. Right. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:24.839 I'm going to make the nation live up to what 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.520 it says in the Constitution. You know, last week we 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.039 had a number of Senators who went to the floor 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.280 and read doctor Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail, 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.039 which I did last week as well. Him and I 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.800 both participated. Yes, it's bipartisan Democrats and Republicans, and it's 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.640 it's so powerful. You know, we've all read it in school. Yeah, 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.760 but it's different when you hear it, and frankly it's 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:52.320 different when you read it out loud, and to read 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:58.960 it on the Senate floor. It is incredibly important, particularly now. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.040 And and you know, one of the points people forget 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.719 is doctor King wasn't just doctor King, he was Reverend King. 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.960 The letter from the Birmingham Jail was written to my 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.800 fellow clergyman. It was a call to the church. One 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:14.719 of the things he says in that letter is for 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:18.520 the church to be a thermostat and not a thermometer. 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.640 Don't just reflect the bigotry of your community. Change it. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.560 Speak up. It's a call to action. And you look 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.799 at these riots and vandals and tearing down George Washington 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.760 and Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln because you know, Abraham Lincoln 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:39.120 was such a Confederate percenta. But you know doctor King 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:44.000 and Frederick Douglas, they made explicit appeals to the founding 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.040 principles of our country. They said, look, we haven't reached 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.719 it yet. But as doctor King said, the arc of 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:53.240 history bends towards justice. Well, speaking of this justice, I 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:54.800 do I do want to get to this on this 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.240 exact point, Senator, you have an admirer. I guess in 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.640 the audience this is from Prey who said, other than 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.599 Republican senators like Cruise and Scott and Cotton, where is 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:10.560 the rest of the Senate gop on justice as we have? 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:15.679 And the phrase that they used is anarcho communist insurrectionists 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:20.520 tearing down our country's culture and history. That must be 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.280 a fan of Ted, just is Trey Gotti. I'm sure 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.840 Trey Gotti fan. Take Trey g I did tell him 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.520 the call, so I'm glad he called. Yeah, listen, I 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.720 think our conference is I think we're coming closer and 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.120 closer to the plate. I think many issues we were 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.280 almost shy in our response to some of the challenges 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:41.840 that we saw in the streets. We just said, and 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.720 know what to do. One of the things that causes 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.080 that kind of paralysis is when you think you have 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.880 to make a choice between law enforcement and communities of color. 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.520 That is not the binary choice on the table today. Yeah, 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.880 the binary choice is for America or against America. In 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.440 order to have that as the actual choice, we have 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.560 to say I am for law spent and I'm for 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.560 community's scholor. No conjunction called or it's and when that happens, 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.000 I think we all rise up. And I've been thankful 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.800 to see the conference coming closer and closer, not into 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.880 the microphone, but to the plate. We had fifty three 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.800 Republicans say, let's start debating. I can't imagine that five 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.280 years ago, because five years ago I can get Democrats 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.880 to come to the debate. Well. And Tim's point about 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:29.160 and is really important protecting civil rights. That doesn't just 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:33.800 protect American American citizens. That protects police officers, because police 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.160 officers to do their jobs, they've got to have the 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.679 trust of the community. And I've I've heard from so 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.240 many cops right now who are right now they're demoralized. 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.680 I mean, they're they're painted as as as the demon. 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:48.959 And I think Tim's Justice Stack was an effort to 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:54.880 help help the police. Officers said. I have called every 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.240 time there has been a shooting in South Carolina where 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.000 the officer loses his life, I try to make sure 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.760 that I'm the first person to call the spouse or 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:09.720 the parent. Gregor Lea and outside of Columbia, South Carolina 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.520 lost his life because someone murdered him. The suspect that 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.719 he was pursuing killed him. Left a eighteen month old, 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:24.360 a little boy, and a beautiful wife, Cassie. I showed 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.199 up at the wake, the viewing and had a conversation 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.800 with her and her parents, and they're surprised to see me. 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.560 I didn't want any cameras around it, don't want anybody there. 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.240 I just wanted to say, I'm so sorry that someone 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:43.160 killed your husband. Several months later, she called my office 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:49.959 and she started nonprofit organizations for police officers. I've contributed, 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.079 We've helped, we stay in touch. She's a blessing to 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.880 our community. Here's the point. So many officers lose their 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.280 lives not because they're making thirty thousand dollars a year 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.480 and they're getting rich. It's because when you look at 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.000 Romans thirteen, there's this notion of mission, that there are 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.360 government officials who can be a ministers of the gospel 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.480 carrying a sword a weapon for what purpose? For a 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:20.200 righteous purpose. Her husband lost his life for a righteous purpose, 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:25.280 and we should celebrate law enforcement. When when I had 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.679 a major car accident, it was law enforcement that showed 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.000 up and said to me, son, I was laying on 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:32.360 the side of the road, I went through the windshow 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.720 came back in my car fell asleep on the Interstate 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.520 twenty six, literally on an interstate, rolling through traffic in 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.959 my car. I'm laying there with glass in my backside 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.360 and my back and he looks down at me and said, son, 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.040 your mom is going to be so happy you're alive. 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.960 And I looked at it and say, sir, you don't 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.720 know my mama. But what he was trying to tell 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.040 I didn't hear. What he was trying to tell me 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:02.480 was that your mother values you right more than this car. Yeah, 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.920 he was saying to me as he bent down and said, son, 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.160 you're so much more valuable. Yeah, you have intrinsic worth, 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.640 far beyond any material possession. He was speaking words of 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.240 affirmation to who I was, well, speaking of words of affirmation. 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.960 I'm glad to hear that you got a nice phone 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.199 call at your office, because I understand you get many 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.440 phone calls that are not very nice at your office. 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.480 You know, I, unfortunately get a lot of phone calls 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.560 that are not that nice, and unfortunately I have learned 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.240 to deal with it. But there are not always words 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.079 of encouragement. You know. This is kind of a this 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:40.880 is a safe space. We like to think about it. 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.760 I mean this is we try to keep this pretty personal. Yes, seriously, 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:49.080 could we listen? Yeah. A quick note for our loyal audience. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.400 What you are about to hear are some profane voicemails 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.200 received by the office of Senator Tim Scott that reflect 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.640 the ongoing racism by certain individuals in this country, specifically 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.000 against black conservative Because it's an important part of the 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.800 context for this episode, we have chosen to play it 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.600 the uncensored sound. If you do not wish to hear 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:16.400 these recordings, you may choose to tune out. Now, Uncle Tim, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:22.640 you're uncle WILLI you coon? Motherfucker you. I hope you're 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.640 choking your fucking tongue in late. Bitch, I don't wish 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.640 sitting good for your motherfucking ass. You are the lowest 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:34.319 so shit this country ever produced. You sell out, motherfucker 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.200 Your mamma no good, your sperm mother. He's even fucking worse, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.319 he said, shot to your fucking Mamafaith dot Com catching 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:47.880 bitch once again. Thank you. This is from the Sunshine State. Also, 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.160 Lisa Grammas, your bitch. You fucking him and he fucking you. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.920 You sucking him, He's sucking you. Michael Rubens a little bitch, 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.760 he turns on people and motherfucker rich sconsin god damn crook. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.000 So all you motherfucker's gonna burn in hell together. So 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:05.280 take your ticket one way to track the hair, you 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:10.160 sucking motherfuckers. Have a great day and enjoy your evening. Bye. 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:16.400 This is one imagine being uh, this is the next one. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:23.600 My new staff assistant, just graduated from college, first job, 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:28.080 gets to hear this, bitch, if you had a bill, 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:33.240 don't you fucking cut You're probably sucking his date. You're nasty, bitch. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.600 You Oh you fucking folk is nasted. I'm gonna keep 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.040 on calling along that that motherfucker wants to I'm gonna 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.040 sucking my first bit were right, So fuck you motherfuckers, 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:47.480 you pieces of ship to all come buckets. And then 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.680 later on another one calls to see it's got me 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:56.720 in the cross errors. That's pretty explicit threatening language. Absolutely, 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.760 there's a level of hate that gets directed at Tim 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.839 that that frankly is different from other members. Acme, why 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.240 is that? I think I know the answer, but unfortunately, 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:14.559 you know being obviously the racial uh if the racial overtones, 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.800 the the racial words, the slurs, the challenges are being 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.280 a black conservative where you were out of sync with 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:25.360 the with the he what he thinks is the black cause. 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:36.280 It incites the kind of rage and anger that could 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.920 lead to violent outcomes in a way that very few 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.360 things I've seen in my life has ever done. And 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:47.280 you know, when you get sixteen to these, you your 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.160 your your staff, assistance, your your front line folks start 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.320 wondering what in the world. Two eleven, we literally shut 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.080 our phones down because the number of racial slurs that 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:02.520 we were getting from around the country. Off Calina else. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:04.960 I started this journey five years ago because of the 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.880 Walter Scott murder in North Charleston, South Carolina, my hometown 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.480 where I grew up in Frankly, Walter Scott was running 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.800 away from the police. He was shot five times, shot 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.200 out eight times, that shot five times in the bag. 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.440 The officer falsified the police report and said that he 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.600 took his taser when the video came out, which it 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.400 was a few weeks A few weeks later, literally no 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.400 one there was not even a conversation about what happened 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.800 in the incident because we had an incident report, right, 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.960 had it not been for some guy literally walking by 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.880 at the exact right moment the exact right street with 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:48.840 his phone out capturing the actual interaction, the engagement. Without 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.240 that video, we would not have known Walter Scott's name 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.560 at all. Well, you know, I think the Walter Scott 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.240 won for a lot of us. Sometimes these are complex situations. 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.320 Sometimes the officers used to forces justified the Walter Scott one. 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.720 Everyone looked at that and said, this is outrageous. It's 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:05.960 just so clear. Yes, And I know there are some 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.440 people in this debate who say that we need to 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.080 abolish the police. The police are hopelessly corrupted. We got 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.320 to I don't know, they're the anarchists in Seattle right now. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.480 And then there are some people who say the police 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:17.880 don't need any kind of reform at all. You do 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.120 have an interesting perspective here because you're one of the 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.120 most prominent black politicians in the country and you're the 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.680 author of this criminal criminal justice reform bill. Yeah. And 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:28.840 one of the reasons why I think I have credit 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:30.520 building on the topic is not just because I'm an 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.440 African American. That's helpful, especially when so many of these 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.520 incidents are African American men having challenges with law enforcement. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.160 I'm the guy that got stopped seven times as an 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:44.040 elected official just driving while bligh stop nine times I 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.720 believed that year seven times for doing nothing, two times 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.960 for speeding, so yeah, speeding prigs, but the other seven 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.560 times for nothing. Eighteen unnecessary stops in the last two decades. 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:56.960 I would like to just put a pause there for 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.240 a moment, because I actually didn't know that. Yes, this 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.120 is a this is a personal experience of an elected 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:06.920 US senator. Well, this year, this US senator was stopped 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:12.359 by police form failing to use my turn signal early 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.000 enough in the lane change. I didn't know that was 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:21.160 the thing. Yeah, I didn't know, but literally pulled over. 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.359 I got a warning ticket thingfully, but how do you 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.920 full over it? I called the police chief at another department, 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:29.760 and they said, basically, what they're trying to do is 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.159 get your windows down so that you can see they 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.119 smell any weed or anything in the air. Get a 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.520 look inside your car. He said, this is what we 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.760 call racial profiling. Tom I said, I should have dawned 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.840 on me that the reason for the stop was to 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:45.800 take a look inside. It just didn't. It didn't occur 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.480 to me, even though that was my eighteenth stop. The 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.760 seventeen stop was last year. For having my blinkers on 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:59.000 while helping someone find their telephone. And you know this. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.560 You can't make this up right up. And so fortunately 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.280 for me, I've walked away from each one of those unscathed. 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.720 I mean I've got some scar tissue emotionally, but none physically, 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.760 because it's it's a sort of preposterous thing and you 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:13.359 can laugh about it, Okay, they pulled you over for 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.119 the blinker, but this is this is a real harassment 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.480 that you have personally experienced. One Walter Scott was pulled 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.600 over for a bust at tail light. There's a video 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:25.800 at least as a scene. I think it was a 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:28.160 last AGAs Divide where the guy was riding his bicycle 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.320 and it was pulled over. So what we're talking about 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.040 is real. But what you said it is so important, 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:38.000 and I think that you've focused on it the importance 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.119 of the body camera. One of the reasons why five 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.480 years ago I started talking about increasing funding for body 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:44.440 cameras by one hundred million dollars per year for five 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:48.960 years is because if a picture is worth a thousand words, 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.360 then a video should be worth a thousand pictures, right right, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.200 Because we have an opportunity not only to see it, 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.080 but to watch it unfold. That is really important and 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.719 I think that dynamic. Had it just been a picture 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.000 of the law enforcement officer on George Floyd's neck, yeah, 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.640 you could debate how long. Yeah, you don't know if 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.920 he's fighting, if it's a violent situation. Without the video, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.680 you don't understand the country, don't, Yes, don't. You don't 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.760 appreciate it. But eight minutes of forty six seconds left later, 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:22.360 no one had a question, and you can hear him 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.800 gasping for his breath, saying I can't breathe, pleading for 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:30.080 his life. I mean, it makes a real difference. Yes, right, 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.320 and if we that united our country, this tells me 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.720 something that's really important. Our country. It is the most 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.160 remarkable country on earth, all the racial divisions we've had 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.959 in the last several years. We saw that picture, and 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:48.080 because there's something in our instinct that says, that's just wrong. 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.280 We are a nation built on fairness. We've been we've 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.600 we've we've always been a nation that was going to progress. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.520 We've been making progress for the entire time. We saw 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.720 that was a wait a second, that cannot that cannot be. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:07.399 People were shocked stunned, they said that's not actually happening, 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:10.840 and once they understood that it was, the entire conversation 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.800 around police reform became real. I'm afraid that our friends 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.639 who are playing presidential politics, they're willing to waste the 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.240 moments hoping for an outcome, so they'd rather I could 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:28.000 be wrong. I think they're willing to run campaign on 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:32.200 police brutality, maybe more than solve it. We just saw 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:36.159 Senate Democrats filibuster the Justice Act, and they did it. 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.560 I think it's exactly what Tim said. They want a 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:42.440 political issue. They want to set campaign in November, rather 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:48.160 than actually make meaningful progress towards addressing the problem doing 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.200 it responsibly. Look, one of the things Tim did a 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.240 very good job of also is understanding the objective here 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:55.560 is not to tear down cops. It's not to destroy 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:02.040 the police officers are keeping vulnerable community's safe. Well and 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.120 frankly to as you just alluded to that, there's no 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.240 doubt in my mind that the people who want character 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:12.440 driven law enforcement, though most our communities of color, sure, 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.359 the people who are saying whin down nine one one, 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:19.400 I want someone coming immediately our communities of color, why 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:24.119 not because they're always crime ridden neighborhoods. It's because your grandmother, 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:26.800 who may not be able to move out of a 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:31.680 bad neighborhood economically, should always be in a good neighborhood. 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:38.840 From a social perspective, they want, I want our family members, 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.480 are loved ones, ourselves to always have a responsive law 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.160 enforcement department. And so this defund police and this autonomous 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:51.200 own concept is anathetical to everything that we believe is 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:53.840 dear in the communities of color. You know, one of 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:58.800 the frustrating things. I mean, race, Slavery is our country's 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:02.679 original sin. Yes, and race is an issue a lot 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:07.840 of people demagogue on a lot of Republicans are uncomfortable 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:14.640 talking about it. Away from it too much. We see 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.240 Democrats this week in the Judiciary Committee, there were several 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:22.119 Democrats who said, we haven't moved one inch since the 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:26.600 nineteen sixties on race and what utter garbage, rebated enormous 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:31.399 strides Jim Crow laws, you had segregated schools. We're making 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:33.439 a journey now, We've still got a long way to go. Yes, 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.879 But you know, and I think understanding the perspective so 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:43.080 many people have of why they feel the justice system 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.480 isn't treating them fairly. I think that's important. And Tim 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.040 has spoken up a lot, particularly in the last couple 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:53.040 of weeks in the conference, sharing his perspectives. But one 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:55.919 thing that I thought was particularly powerful. People were asking Art, 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:59.440 what do we do with the Confederate statues and renaming 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:03.280 in all of this controversy, And your answer, which which 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:06.240 almost immediately was echoed by just about every Republican senator right, 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:08.600 I thought was really powerful. Well, thank you can repeat 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.520 it for me since I don't remember it. But if yeah, 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:16.000 I don't think the country's better off trying to create 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:19.680 the future than reframe the past. Yeah, we spend almost 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:22.640 too much time in the rearview mirror and not enough 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.440 time in the windshow. It's hard not to get into 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:28.600 an accident when all your focus is on yesterday. So 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:33.640 for us to reframe the past doesn't benefit almost anyone. 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:36.400 So if we want to reframe the past, however, put 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:38.560 up more statues. Put up a statue not of just 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:41.439 Martin Luther King Jr. What about Rosa Parks or our 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:44.080 book or two at Washington, Washington, Carbor. There's a lot 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:46.720 of folks that we could celebrate. But tearing something down 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:49.480