Here’s why I admire Sen Tim Scott – and why you should too

I’ve always liked U.S. Senator Tim Scott, and I’ve met him a few times and had a great time when he came to tour the construction site of my Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center on Chicago’s South Side.

We have a lot in common: we are both descendants of America’s terrible legacy of slavery, we are both country folk at heart born to single mothers, we both endured racism and live openly as black conservatives.

But that’s not why I’ve come to respect Tim Scott over the years — respect is something that only stands the test of time.

What I admire about him is not pretentious or sensational. Scott is a humble and disciplined man, so this shouldn’t surprise anyone. He’s a hard worker, a doer, a believer. What I admire about him is something very personal to me. He never uses his black skin for his own gain.

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This may seem trivial to some of you and obvious to others, but after all, we should be living Martin Luther King’s dream of being judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. But we have sorely failed that dream.

We are all complicit in exploiting our skin for the cheap thrill of power. I have seen black people do this my whole life, and more recently I have seen white people embrace their skin under the illusion that it will help them fight tribal wars.

But there’s no question that black people have been tempted to use the color of their skin to gain power or some advantage. It’s everywhere. Check the black box, and doors open. Call out racism in the workplace, and you’re likely to find reconciliation. And the cycle repeats.

As a person with dark skin, that card is always in the back of my mind and the temptation to play it is ever-present, but I have resisted playing it because I know I am more than the color of my skin.

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I think the senator had a similar upbringing to me: be a man, be a man, believe in yourself. And that’s why I think Scott has acted as a human being first while America has fallen off a cliff into angry tribalism. Weaker people who have endured what he has experienced in life would have succumbed to the temptations of race.

Sen. Tim Scott embraces his mother, Frances Scott, after announcing his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination at Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, South Carolina, on May 22, 2023. (Sam Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When Scott was just seven years old, he lived in a bedroom in his grandparents’ house with his mother and older brother. His father, a Vietnam War veteran, was never home. His mother worked as a nurse most nights, from dawn until 11 p.m. Scott’s greatest influence was his grandfather, who picked cotton for 50 cents a day.

As a boy, Scott was often teased, but his grandfather would often tell him that he could be more than the environment he was born into. In the garden, Scott’s grandfather would tell him that a seed is far more important than the soil: “Given enough time, a seed will go through the hardest concrete.”

I tell this story to the kids in my neighborhood. They may not be country boys like Scott, but the message sticks with them. Then I tell them that Scott got bad grades and failed his classes. He had to go to summer school to get extra lessons. During breaks between classes, he would go to the nearby Chick-fil-A and order what he could get: waffle fries and water.

Sen. Tim Scott appears in his R.B. Stoll High School yearbook photo from 1981. (Alison Joyce/Getty Images)

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Yes, the future U.S. senator was that poor, but the thing is, Tim Scott kept going. He had very little fuel in his system and only two nickels in his pocket, but he kept going.

One day, the owner of a Chick-fil-A took notice of Scott and began talking to him. The two became friends and the owner told Scott about the business principles he used to become successful. These principles introduced Scott to conservatism, and he remembers saying, “You need to think your way out of poverty.”

This is a golden phrase. When I say this to my kids, I am putting the agency, the responsibility, the accountability in their hands. I may be showing them the way, but I am putting their destiny in their hands.

I tell you this story about his upbringing because I believe it helped him to be calm and confident in himself. What a lot of kids today lack is a basic belief in themselves to go out and take on the world and make something of themselves.

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When Scott entered the workforce and began to prove himself by running for student body president in high school, he faced racism, primarily from black people, for his conservative beliefs. Then, in college, he faced discrimination from white people.

But Scott never lowered himself to their level and played the race card. He always responded with humanity. It’s a lesson I preach to my kids every chance I get. And personally, I know how hard it is to walk this unconventional but true path, and seeing Scott’s example makes me feel less alone.

Sen. Tim Scott speaks at the Vision ’24 National Conservative Forum in Charleston, South Carolina on March 18, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Finally, I tell my kids that the reason Scott has been so successful in life is because he believes in something higher and bigger than himself.

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Too many Americans have come to believe in a tribal identity with immutable characteristics and the politics that go with it. But Tim Scott is different. He believes in Jesus, and he says, “Without Jesus Christ my life is worthless.”

It is this belief, and the belief that our souls have the power to become anything we dream, that keeps the dream that Dr. King had for all of us alive.

Click here to read more comments from Pastor Corey Brooks