U.S. Senator Tim Scott’s (R-SC) measured responses last night on Fox’s The Kelly File demonstrate what strong leadership looks like.

Scott is one of only two black senators in the U.S. Senate. He was the first black person elected from the South to the Senate since 1881. He is from the Charleston area, and has served as an elected Republican in local, state, and federal roles since 1995. He is well respected and admired in South Carolina.

Senator Scott was on The Kelly File to discuss the Charleston shooting. Two of his responses in particular should be highlighted. The first is his statement that so many people want to drag us back to a dark time, and that while racism still remains today, we have made much progress. The second is that he clearly denounced President Obama’s immediate political pandering that lack of gun control is to blame for the Charleston shooting. Further, he didn’t dodge the question, he outright stated that no gun law would have prevented this tragedy. See Sen. Scott on The Kelly File:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1hZBFzNOlg

Sen. Scott’s responses contrast with Todd Rutherford’s near comical exchange with Bill O’Reilly Thursday night. S.C. State Representative Rutherford (D), who is the Minority Leader in the State House, was neither measured nor coherent in participating in a conversation, but insisted on spouting that Fox News and “coded language” was to blame for this shooting. Rutherford demonstrated clearly that he is one of those people who want to drag us backward in time to an era that no longer exists. This is a glaring example of how the left continuously stokes the resentment of the right, and why the right is constantly in defensive posture. This type of rhetoric leaves no room for negotiation or space to find common ground. This is not the kind of talk that leads to reconciliation. These people are smart enough to know that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkENK40GrNA&app=desktop

About the shooter, Rep. Rutherford said the same thing earlier on CNN:

[B]ecause he watches the news and he watches things like FOX News, where they talk about things that they call news, but they’re really not. They use that coded language, they use hate speech, they talk about the president as if he’s not the president. They talk about church-goers as if they are really not church-goers. And that’s what this young man acted on.

Despite what Rep. Rutherford says, he might give serious thought to thanking Fox News for its role in helping to catch the shooter. Debbie Dills watched Fox and Friends on Thursday morning and spotted the shooter in Shelby, North Carolina, which led to his quick arrest. Fox’s coded racist message really went haywire on that one!

Dr. Ben Carson, a recent entry to the Republican field for the presidential nomination, agrees that some on the left are trying to take us backward, calling the liberal mentality a license to hate.

With that mentality, the left is justified to use any means by which to achieve their ends.

Carson urged Americans on Thursday to focus on their similarities rather than their differences in the wake of the shooting.
“It’s destroying our nation,” said Carson of America’s cultural divides.
“You know, we have a war on women, race wars, income wars, age wars, religious wars. Anything you could imagine, we have a war on it,” he said. “And we’re giving people a license to hate people who disagree with them.”
“Well, I hope that we, the American people, can come to the understanding that we are not each other’s enemies,” Carson added.
“The enemies are those who are stoking the flames of division, trying to divide us into every category and weakening us as a society.”

Sadly, this is nothing new. Condoleeza Rice, former Secretary of State, commented on these predictable attacks in 2014.

[She] slammed Democrats who sought to use race against Republicans in the midterm elections, saying they were offensive and out of touch.
“The idea that you would play such a card and try fearmongering among minorities just because you disagree with Republicans, that they are somehow all racists, I find it appalling. I find it insulting,” she said on Fox News.
“We are not race blind. Of course we still have racial tensions in this country. But the United States of America has made enormous progress in race relations and it is still the best place on Earth to be a minority,” Rice said.

Of course none of the conservative black voices are given any respect within the discourse. They are attacked in the most disgusting and vile ways. See attacks on Tim Scott here, and here. See attacks on Ben Carson here and here. See attacks on Condoleeza Rice here and here. None of the attacks have to do with policy differences or even incompetence, the attacks are solely on their integrity and being traitors to their race.

That’s the treatment that black folks get from liberals, so clearly white folks will get no better. In fact, if you’re white you don’t even have a voice. See here where the editor of Ebony tells a Twitter follower that since he is white (she’s mistake about that) she doesn’t even want to hear him. She says, “Oh great, here comes a White dude telling me how to do this Black thing. Pass.” And when he asks who she is calling a white dude, she says, “YOU. Now, leave, I have no interest in this conversation.” She later had to apologize to Raffi Williams, the black deputy press secretary for the Republican National Committee. But only because she was mistaken about him being black; GOP was still a disqualification for conversation. Now, can you imagine the outrage if “white” was replaced by black or brown or gay or anything else? Yes, I am sure you can.

Instead of “progressing,” liberal left leaders regress by feeding the fire of divisiveness and hate. It’s too bad the left cannot see (or doesn’t care about) the damage they are doing by spewing hate, and refusing to reign in their own words and actions. Instead of blaming some invisible nonexistent dog call to racism, they ought to stop and listen to themselves to see who is really drumming up these feelings of discontent. In fact, if anyone is to blame for the rising tensions between the races, we can start at the top.