--- title: Tim Scott Lectures Donald Trump on Racism, Charlottesville description: The sole black Republican in the Senate, Tim Scott, spoke with President Donald Trump Wednesday to address racism in the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/4940610/tim-scott-donald-trump-racism-charlottesville/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-13T23:00:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:24:57.027Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sole Black Senate Republican Lectured President Trump on Racism og:description: Tim Scott of South Carolina described Trump's response to Charlottesville as "sterile" og:url: https://time.com/4940610/tim-scott-donald-trump-racism-charlottesville/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta59a855ba5666781/6988ddbd096a94668869f965/tim-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tim Scott og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sole Black Senate Republican Lectured President Trump on Racism twitter:description: Tim Scott of South Carolina described Trump's response to Charlottesville as "sterile" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta59a855ba5666781/6988ddbd096a94668869f965/tim-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Sole Black Senate Republican Lectured President Trump on Racism After Charlottesville by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Sep 13, 2017 11:00 PM UTC  Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only African-American Republican serving in the Senate, talks to reporters about his plan to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss race and Trump's widely criticized response to last month's protests and racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017\. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only African-American Republican serving in the Senate, talks to reporters about his plan to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss race and Trump's widely criticized response to last month's protests and racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017\. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)J. Scott Applewhite—AP by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Sep 13, 2017 11:00 PM UTC The sole black Republican in the Senate, Tim Scott, tried to explain racism in the U.S. to President Donald Trump Wednesday following the [events of Charlottesville, Va.](http://time.com/4911607/president-donald-trump-joe-arpaio-sheriff-arizona/) that left a woman dead in the wake of a [white nationalist rally](http://time.com/4899820/charlottesville-confederate-statues-louisville-lexington-jacksonville/) last month. Scott, who represents South Carolina, called Trump’s response to the violence “sterile” and sought to lecture the President on America’s centuries-long history of racism, [according to the New York _Times_.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/us/politics/trump-tim-scott-charlottesville-race.html?%5Fr=0) White House staff said Trump’s decision to take the meeting at the Oval Office was an example of the President’s commitment to “positive race relations,” the report said. Following the meeting, Scott told reporters that he sat down with Trump to express his grievances with the President’s claim that “both sides” — white nationalists and counter-protestors — were responsible for the violence. “My response was that, while that’s true, I mean I think if you look at it from a sterile perspective, there was an antagonist on the other side,” Scott said, the _Times_ reported. “However, the real picture has nothing to do with who is on the other side,” he added. “It has to do with the affirmation of hate groups who over three centuries of this country’s history have made it their mission to create upheaval in minority communities as their reason for existence,” Scott continued. “I shared my thoughts of the last three centuries of challenges from white supremacists, white nationalists, KKK, Nazis. So there’s no way to find an equilibrium when you have three centuries of history versus the situation that is occurring today.” White House officials emailed reporters a photograph of Trump Wednesday afternoon listening “intently” to Scott’s argument. The White House’s caption misidentified him as Tom Scott, rather than Tim. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4940610/tim-scott-donald-trump-racism-charlottesville/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4940610/tim-scott-donald-trump-racism-charlottesville/"},"headline":"The Sole Black Senate Republican Lectured President Trump on Racism After Charlottesville","datePublished":"2017-09-13T23:00:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:24:57.027Z","description":"Tim Scott of South Carolina described Trump's response to the violence as \"sterile\"","url":"https://time.com/4940610/tim-scott-donald-trump-racism-charlottesville/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta59a855ba5666781/6988ddbd096a94668869f965/tim-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta59a855ba5666781/6988ddbd096a94668869f965/tim-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tim Scott","caption":"Tim Scott","creditText":"J. 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