South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) will warn educators against “teaching kids that they are oppressors” when he takes the stage at the Reagan Library in California Tuesday night on April 19.
Scott is participating in the Reagan Foundation & Institute’s “Time for Choosing” speaker series, which seeks to provide a platform for “leading voices in the conservative movement to address critical questions facing the future of the Republican Party.” His speech will take a shot at critical race theory and the New York Time’s controversial 1619 Project, as well as address rising inflation and criticize President Joe Biden’s leadership, according to excerpts reported by Axios.
The southern lawmaker, who is the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, will say he’s living proof that conservatism provides opportunity for Americans of color.
“It was education, hard work, and faith that allowed my family to go from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” Scott will say, according to his prepared remarks.
Scott will reportedly speak in favor of transparency in schools, saying that “parents have a right to know what their kids are being taught in the classroom” and that “teaching kids that they are oppressors is just as bad as teaching kids they are always going to be victims.”
His remarks touch on issues that have been a priority for Republican lawmakers across the country. Backlash against critical race theory in 2021 led many GOP-controlled legislatures to advance bills prohibiting schools from teaching “divisive concepts” like the idea that one particular race is “inherently superior or inferior” to another or “inherently responsible for actions committed in the past.” Such legislation was filed in response to reports that schools were adopting lesson plans that teach how “all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism,” or that American institutions were designed for the “impoverishment of people of color and enrichment of white people,” as a school in Buffalo, New York taught.
Republicans have also introduced curriculum transparency bills, which they claim are needed to keep parents informed of what their children are being taught. Opponents say such legislation could have a chilling effect on speech in schools and argue that parents should not have a role in school curricula.
Elsewhere in his speech, Scott will take shots at President Biden’s record in office and the Democratic majorities in Congress, with the 2022 midterm elections in view.
“President Reagan once said, ‘Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man … Democrats’ leadership has led to a 40-year high in inflation, and they’re still pouring more money on this crisis. That’s not good for moms making decisions in homes like the one I grew up in,” Scott will say, according to Axios.
He will also claim that Biden’s “weakness on the global stage has emboldened terrorists, bullies, and dictators,” most notably Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
“Bloodthirsty dictators like Putin only understand strength, and that’s what we must project from the United States,” Scott’s prepared remarks say.
Scott will also call for U.S. energy independence, “a physical barrier on our southern border,” and will criticize “the 1619 Project.”