BLM Protests Clinton
This warms the cockles of my heart.
Two Black Lives Matter activists interrupted a private Hillary Clinton fundraising event Wednesday night in Charleston, South Carolina.
Youth activist Ashley Williams demanded that the Democratic presidential candidate account for inconsistencies in her record on race, specifically around comments she made about crime in 1996.
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As Clinton spoke to the crowd, Williams stood to her side and held a sign quoting controversial statements Clinton made in 1996 in reference to at-risk youth, when she said “we have to bring them to heel.”
Williams said when Clinton paused and looked at her sign, she asked the former secretary of state to apologize to black people for mass incarceration. The mostly white audience yelled at Williams and told her she was being rude, she said.
“I wanted to bring her to confront her own words,” Williams told The Huffington Post after the protest, adding, “We did this because we wanted to make sure that black people are paying attention to her record, and we want to know what Hillary we are getting.”
Tags: Hillary Clinton
Just so that we are clear that BLM doesn’t speak for all Black People: Mothers Of Police And Gun Violence Victims Say Hillary Clinton Deserves The Black Vote
And I’m fine with BLM reminding Clinton of her words here (she should use it as an opportunity to repudiate the olf War on Drugs business) — but I’m going to also remind people that Clinton’s attitude here wasn’t unique to her or much of the Black Community during the War On Drugs heyday. In fact, you can go to local community meetings in Wilmington right now and hear something similar from folks living with some of the mayhem.
I’m really happy that we’re suddenly getting posts on young women and minorities. That warms the cockles of my heart. 🙂
I’m starting to get what BLM is doing, and it seems to be working, a little. Both Dem candidates have raised the priority of racial justice in their campaigns, which is a good thing. But neither candidate has committed to a substantive course of concrete actions. I’m not in a position to tell BLM what its goals should be, but personally I think what’s needed are some high-profile successful murder prosecutions of police who shoot unarmed people. That will put an real motivation for reform into the hearts of every street cop. The candidates can commit to pursuing Federal murder charges for these cases and following up vigorously where warranted.
I wouldn’t come down too hard on Hillary for those comments. I spoke to black mothers and fathers in NYC in the 90s, and they were desperate to get the bad eggs off the street. Because after all it was mostly their own children and families who were the victims. “Super predators” is a little over the top but not by much. and “bringing to heel” not at all.
Hillary’s statement was a common point of view among black and white families at the time. Among the black mothers and fathers I knew, I think all of them agreed with “Lock ’em up.” It was only later that issues arising from concentrated incarceration and longer sentences became evident. I blame Democrats not for enacting the crime bill, but for subsequently losing power and being unable to make fixes as problems emerged.
But if BLM wants to use Hillary’s comments as a teachable moment for today, that is also a good thing.
This comment is in no way meant as a denigration of Sanders…
I find it ironic (?; not sure if that’s the right word or if I’m going w/ the Alanis Morrisette usage)… Anyways, I find it ironic that after 8 years of the first black president in American history, a sizable number of Afr.-American people under the age of 40 are flocking to the campaign banner of a 74-year old white male from a state that’s 90% Caucasian.
“If the percentage of African-Americans in your state was any indication of what your views on race were, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King.” – Howard Dean
Joe – When you watch Sanders on video being thrown in a police wagon for protesting segregation in Chicago in ’63 or see photos of a young Sanders organizing for SNCC then the reason activists of all stripes and colors are flocking to him becomes pretty clear.
Now this isn’t to say it’s enough to win a nomination and it isn’t a knock on Clinton. But it’s a fact. And once people know it they tend to feel differently about a 74-years old white Jew from Vermont.
Dorian… I was simply talking optics… I completely agree with you, but I can’t exactly buy in 100% to the idea that every single one of the folks flocking to his banner are well-heeled in his personal history of civil rights advocacy.