Sen. Tim Scott Announces Presidential Run: ‘I’m Living Proof’ America Is a Land of Opportunity

Scott: “We live in the land of opportunity. We live in the land where it is absolutely possible for a kid raised in poverty, in a single parent household, in a small apartment to one day, serve in the people’s house, and maybe even the White House. (Cheering and Applause)
This — this is the greatest nation on God’s green earth. Today I’m thinking back to my grandfather, born in 1921 in Sally, South Carolina, in the Deep South. By the time he was in the third grade, he was forced out of school, his education was over and he was forced to start picking cotton. But my grandfather lived long enough to watch his grandson pick out a seat in Congress. (Cheering and Applause)
That’s — that’s the evolution of the country we live in. My family went from cotton to Congress in his lifetime. (Cheering and Applause) And it was only — it was only possible because my grandfather had a stubborn faith, faith in God, faith in himself, and faith in what America would be. He looked beyond the pain of his present and he saw the promise of his future. That black man who struggled through the Jim Crow South, believed then what some doubt now, in the goodness of America. (Cheering and Applause)
I was seven years old when my parents divorced. We moved in with my grandparents. My mom and my brother, we all three shared one bed and one bedroom, in that 700 square foot rental home. But my grandfather said to me, ‘Son, you can be bitter or you can be better.’ But you can’t be both. You see, he chose patriotism over pity. He focused on the windshield of his life, and not on the rearview mirror.
And today, I’m living proof that America is the land of opportunity and not a land of oppression. (Cheering and Applause) Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. But you see this, this isn’t just my story. It’s all of our stories. The circumstances and the situations may be different, the details may change, but every single one of us are here because of the American journey, where there were obstacles that became opportunities and our pain revealed our purpose. If you believe that, can somebody say amen?”