Hillary Clinton's speech on criminal justice reform was interrupted today by protesters from the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
I'm including snippets from several news stories, not just to give a fuller picture, but to also demonstrate how difficult it is to get the full picture. Journalists are still struggling, I think, to capture what's going on with this movement and these protests, with the coverage focused primarily on the candidate and not the protesters.
Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:
She was at Clark Atlanta University to call for sweeping criminal justice changes, but before she could outline her proposal the demonstrators entered through a door at the back of the school’s gym and clustered in front of the stage.
The demonstrators continued to chant while she spoke of campaigning on a platform of “love and kindness” and living up to the ideals of racial equality championed by Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president.
Influential black Atlanta leaders, including Mayor Kasim Reed and Rep. John Lewis, were seen trying to talk to some of the protesters. As attention scattered, and phones and cameras captured the demonstrators rather than the candidate, Clinton urged the demonstrators to listen.
Members of the Black Lives Matter advocacy group are demanding candidates more forcefully address the racial tensions and policing practices behind the series of shooting deaths of unarmed black men by white law enforcement officers. Protesters have interrupted presidential candidates several times.
CNN reports:
Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted Hillary Clinton on Friday while she was speaking at a historically black university here.
The protesters began chanting "black lives matter" a few minutes into her speech.
At first, the former secretary of state acknowledged them: "Yes they do and I'm gonna talk a lot about that in a minute," she said.
She then tried ignoring the protesters, shouting her remarks over the chants.
"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 disruption, one of the loudest she had faced on the campaign trail.
NBC News
reports:
Hillary Clinton vowed to take executive action to "ban the box" at a rally in Atlanta Friday, where she was met with the biggest protest yet by "Black Lives Matter" activists at one of her events.
About a dozen protesters interrupted Clinton's speech, singing and chanting for at least ten minutes of her remarks before being escorted out. Banning the box refers to removing questions about criminal convictions from job applications.
Banning the box would help job applicants with a criminal record get through further stages of the job application process, Clinton argued at the campaign's first "African Americans for Hillary" event.
Seattle Times reports:
They sang and chanted for nearly 12 minutes several feet from the podium as Clinton tried to shout over them. Rep. John Lewis, a hero in the civil rights movement, urged them to stop, as did the musician Usher.
The group of fewer than 10 protesters eventually left the college gymnasium only after the crowd of more than 2,000, most of them young African Americans, forcefully chanted, “Let her talk!”
“I’m sorry they didn’t listen, because some of what they demanded I am offering and intend to fight for as president,” Clinton said and added, “We have to come together as a nation.”
After the jump, some footage from the event.
The #BLM movement continues to insist that their life and death issues be front and center in this presidential campaign and I hope that they continue to do so.
Sometimes you have to scream to be heard. As a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton, I hope that this pressure continues to push her harder and further on issues of racial justice.
Black lives are human lives and human lives are black lives.