Once reluctant, GOP’s only Black senator now leads on race

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FILE - In this May 18, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during a meeting on opportunity zones in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. Initially reluctant to speak on race, Scott is now among the Republican Party’s most prominent voices teaching his colleagues what it’s like to be a Black man in America. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

donald-trump-tim-scott

WASHINGTON (AP) — Initially reluctant to focus on race, Sen. Tim Scott is now among the Republican Party’s most prominent voices. As the only Black Republican in the Senate, Scott is leading the GOP senators in drafting the Justice Act policing changes set for a test vote this week. He is using his own experiences of being stopped by police for “driving while Black” to explain to his colleagues what it’s like to be Black in America when the police lights are flashing in the rear-view mirror. He has been pulled over by police “more than 18 times,” Scott said in an interview with The Associated Press.