Once incident began as he was leaving the mall.

“I took a left. And as soon as I took a left the police officer pulled in right behind me. I got to another traffic light. I took another left into a neighborhood. Police followed behind me. I took a third left on the street that led to my apartment complex. And then finally I took a fourth left coming into my apartment complex, and then the blue lights went on. The officer approached the car and said that I did not use my turn signal on the fourth turn. Keep in mind, as you might imagine, I was paying very close attention to the law-enforcement officer who followed me on four turns. Do you really think that I forgot to use my turn signal on that fourth turn?”

Another time, he said, a cop pulled him onto a roadside median and declared that he believed the car Scott was driving might be stolen. “I also think about the experiences of my brother, who became a Command Sergeant Major in the United States Army, the highest rank for an enlisted soldier. He was driving from Texas to Charleston,” he said. “Pulled over by a law-enforcement officer who wanted to know if he had stolen the car that he was driving because it was a Volvo. I do not know many African American men who do not have a very similar story to tell no matter their profession, no matter their income, no matter their disposition in life.”

A former staffer of his was the subject of one such story. He drove a Chrysler 300, “a nice car, but not a Ferrari. He was pulled over so many times here in D.C. for absolutely no reason other than for driving a nice car.” He sold that car to stop being targeted.

“Imagine the frustration, the irritation, the sense of a loss of dignity that accompanies each of those stops,” Scott said, relating that even on Capitol Hill, as a member of the Senate, he has been stopped by police and asked to prove his membership.

“There is absolutely nothing more frustrating, more damaging to your soul, than when you know you’re following the rules and being treated like you are not,” he declared. “But make no mistake. No matter this turmoil, these issues should not lead anyone to any conclusion other than to abide by the laws… there is never, ever an acceptable reason to harm a member of our law-enforcement community, ever.”

What did he hope to achieve with his remarks?

“Today,” he concluded, “I simply ask you this. Recognize that just because you do not feel the pain, the anguish of another, does not mean it does not exist. To ignore their struggles, our struggles, does not make them disappear, it simply leaves you blind and the American family very vulnerable. Some search so hard to explain away injustice that they are slowly wiping away who we are as a nation. But we must come together to fulfill what we all know is possible here: peace, love, and understanding. Fairness.”