The NAACP isn’t apologizing to Tim Scott for calling him a puppet. In a statement, it argued that the label reflected that Scott, one of the Senate’s two black members, hasn’t honored the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. because he’s been “echoing the position of the far right.”
The organization was defending comments by one of its most prominent officials, North Carolina NAACP president William Barber II, who had called South Carolina’s junior senator a ventriloquist’s “dummy” for the GOP.
“Dr. King emphasized love and justice rather than extremism. Unless we stand for justice we cannot claim allegiance to or pay homage to Dr. King,” the NAACP said in a statement to Fox News. “In a state such as South Carolina, politicians, whether they be black or white, should not be echoing the position of the far right.”
Scott has dismissed the NAACP’s attacks, saying he wouldn’t “reflect seriously” on them. “Instead, I will honor the memory of Dr. King by being proactive in holding the door for others and serving my fellow man,” he said. “And Rev. Barber will remind me and others of what not to do.”