Hillary Clinton’s Response to BLM May Have Cost Her The Election

There Goes the Firewall: Hillary Clinton’s Response to BLM May Have Cost Her The Election
By Walker Bragman  |  February 26, 2016  |  11:38am


“I’m not a superpredator!” Ashley Williams, a young Black Lives Matter protester told Democratic presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton—her confidence belied by a slight quiver in her voice.

Even when heckled by the mostly white crowd at a $500-per-plate campaign fundraiser dinner in conservative South Carolina, Williams held her ground. She faced down an evasive Clinton, demanding an explanation for racist remarks the former First Lady made in 1996, where she referred to inner-city, black youth as “super-predators” with “no conscience” and “no empathy.” “We need to bring them to heel” she explained.

At the time, Clinton was touting her husband’s “tough on crime” policies—specifically the Violent Crime Control Act of 1994—which imposed harsh punishments on a variety of nonviolent offenses, and is widely accepted as a driving force (though not the only force) behind the explosion of incarceration over the next decade. Black America was hit particularly hard.

After a tense confrontation, Clinton’s security detail physically removed the young woman who had paid $500 to deliver her message.

After she was gone, a visibly annoyed Clinton, seemingly unable to stop herself, turned to the crowd and said “Back to the issues…” not realizing she was on camera. She could not have made a more tone-deaf statement, especially given the name of movement she had just been confronted by.

Read more at: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/02/there-goes-the-firewall-hillary-clintons-response.html

Hillary Clinton, AP Photo July 2015