Transcript: Sen. Scott reflects on MLK assassination anniversary
In an interview with "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan, Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, reflected on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Scott appeared with Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, to discuss their new book "Unified" on "Face the Nation" Sunday. You can watch an extended cut of the interview here.
A transcript of Scott's full answer on Martin Luther King Jr's anniversary is below.
BRENNAN: Senator, I want to ask you because we're coming up on another significant anniversary.
Martin Luther King -- and we're looking at coverage of his legacy so many years later. For you, at this point, and where we are in this country in race relations. What do these anniversaries mean?
SCOTT: Well this was a significant one, 50 years since his death.
I was in Memphis a few weeks ago speaking on this topic of: what do we do to commemorate, but also recognize the progress that we have made because of him, and the progress that still needs to be made.
I would say this: that thank God for us spending the time to reflect on one of the most powerful Americans, who bridged a gap in a way that none of us could have ever seen. We're living now. I'm -- I'm standing on the shoulders of folks like John Lewis and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as we recognize this 50th anniversary.
I hope it takes us back to the 1968, when this country was divided and tension was high. May we learn the lessons, of coming together, in a way that the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. saw the night before he passed away.
He said he had been to the mountaintop, and it was going to be okay.
And he said he might not get there with us, but his conviction that this nation would one day stand and sing with new meaning, my country, tis of thee, this sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
We should be strong in our conviction that, in spite of the polarization, hope lives. That's the message that I'm hanging onto as we commemorate 50 years of his passing.