Black Lives Matter Protesters Interrupted Hillary Clinton’s Speech On Criminal Justice Reform And Race
Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted Hillary Clinton’s speech on criminal justice reform and race last Friday at Clark Atlanta University, however the interruption did not deter Clinton from finishing her speech. She ended up garnering big applause from the crowd. Hillary is not someone you can stop easily. Having served as a Secretary of State, the mere sound of protestors could not stop the former secretary from making her point on criminal justice reform and race at the historical black university.
According to Daily Mail UK, Hillary Clinton was interrupted for 30 minutes by the protesters. As the demonstrators shouted “black lives matter,” the former Secretary of State replied: “Yes they do. Yes they do. Yes they do. And I’m gonna talk a lot about that in a minute.”
For those of you that missed it, here is a video.
She then eventually ignored their protest and continued with her speech
“I have some issues to discuss and proposals to make if our friends will allow me to do it. They may actually find them to their liking,” Clinton said, while continuing to speak over the uproar.
As they continued to oppose her, her supporters began to shout “let her talk, let her talk,” while others screamed at the top of their lungs, “Hillary, Hillary” in an attempt to draw out the protesters.
Civil right activists tried to draw out the protesters by putting a hand on their shoulders to contain the situation and to help escort them out eventually after the uproar was over.
An Atlanta-based group called, #AUCShutItDown affiliated with Black Lives Matter said they interrupted Clinton’s speech because they wanted to get her attention and also to get her to focus on pressing issues facing the African-American community, especially in areas regarding policies.
“Unfortunately, rhetoric DOES NOT save us, nor does it give confidence to black voters that we can trust Hillary to prioritize the necessity of ensuring our safety,” the group said. “We’ve been waiting for weeks to see the platform that addresses these issues from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. We will wait no more.”
Clinton was glad a congressman and the mayor were on her side and also acknowledging that Lewis and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed had joined her on stage.
Hillary will not meet with the protesters according to Clinton’s spokesman, Nick Merril. After walking off stage, Clinton was met by LaDavia Drane her director of African-American Outreach.
“It’s always an adventure,” Clinton proclaimed.
According to CNN, Lewis said the protesters “represent another time, another period.”
“It is unfortunate that they didn’t listen to the secretary,” he added.
According to usuncut, they were actually protesting her support of the death penalty.
According to writer Zaid Jilani, Lewis and Young support a candidate who defends capital punishment — a policy that obviously affects the African-American community.
The crowd were also expecting Hillary Clinton to address racial profiling by police at the event. The protesters claim her racial justice platform is too little.
Shaun King, Black Lives Matter activist and New York Daily News senior justice writer endorsed the action, and called on Clinton to more firmly oppose police violence in black communities.
Hillary Clinton recently made a statement in favor of the death penalty during one of her speeches in this campaign, setting her apart from Sanders, who has been vocal in his opposition to capital punishment.
