Clinton confronted by protester at South Carolina campaign event
As the Democratic race in South Carolina draws closer to Saturday's primary election, both Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders have ramped up their appeals to African American voters, a significant portion of South Carolina鈥檚 population. Protesters at one Clinton event, however, brought back bad memories for the Clinton campaign.
One young woman stood up at a campaign event in聽Charleston to ask the former secretary of State a question. not on her present-day rhetoric, but on her past support for policies that harmed the African American population.
"Will you apologize to black people for mass incarceration?" asked Ms. Williams.
Her question referred to former President Bill Clinton鈥檚 1994 Crime Bill. Even the former president has admitted that the bill 鈥�.鈥�
The young woman, who is currently a Masters candidate at the University of North Carolina, also confronted Clinton about a 1996 speech the candidate made about 鈥渟uper predators.鈥�
The 鈥渟uper predator鈥� theory is a proposed by political scientist John DeIulio in the 1990s. Dr. DeIulio predicted that hoards of young people with no conscience or empathy would contribute to already growing crime rates in the 1990s.聽
鈥淭hat was her pathologizing black youth as these criminal, animal people,鈥� Williams told The Washington Post, 鈥渨e know that鈥檚 not right and we know that鈥檚 really racist." She confronted Clinton over the 20-year-old speech during the event.
Eventually, Clinton told Williams with annoyance that her actions were 鈥渞ude.鈥�
"As a black queer person, I understand how I don鈥檛 always get to be in control of how I鈥檓 perceived in spaces," Williams told The Washington Post. "I鈥檓 especially not always in control of the way I'm perceived when I'm raising my voice to speak out against injustices. So I鈥檓 not surprised that I was told that I was being rude."
A video of the confrontation was later .
Although several news outlets have reported that the protesters were part of Black Lives Matter, Williams told the Post that they were not affiliated with the larger group.
Clinton has been confronted before by Black Lives Matter protesters. A group of activists attempted to crash a Clinton forum on substance abuse last year. Instead of throwing them out, Clinton arranged to after the event.
Clinton told those protesters, who spoke to her about the issues of mass incarceration and racism, that their evaluation of the racist policies of the 1990s was 鈥渇air.鈥� Clinton said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 historically fair. It鈥檚 psychologically fair. It鈥檚 economically fair. But 鈥� there was a different set of concerns back in the 80s and the early 90s. We have to look at the world as it is today and try and figure out what will work now.鈥�
Matt Dickinson,聽professor of political science at Middlebury College in Vermont, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview that, because the Clinton family has a longer and deeper reputation for working on behalf of the African American community, they have come under less scrutiny, later, than Senator Sanders.
鈥淚t has taken a while for people to start pulling back the layers of the Clinton campaign,鈥� says Dr. Dickinson.
Harvard professor Timothy McCarthy tells the Monitor in a phone interview that Clinton is likely having many conversations about race in more private settings.
Just this week, a number of African American mothers who have lost children to violence came out in support of Clinton. The candidate first met with this group of mothers a year ago.聽
Sanders, Clinton鈥檚 fellow 2016 Democratic candidate, also voted for the 1994 Crime Bill.
Just a few days before Clinton鈥檚 August sit-down with members of the Black Lives Matter movement, a Bernie Sanders event in Seattle.
In response, Sanders in September. Although Sanders has publicly condemned disproportionately high incarceration rates in the African American community, the Huffington Post reports that at least one of the meeting鈥檚 attendees expressed dissatisfaction with his action, or lack thereof.
鈥淚 also made it very clear that he has not won over a large demographic of black people in this country no matter how progressive he seems and that his policy platform,鈥� said Black Lives Matter leader Johnetta Elzie, 鈥渢hat his past history of dealing with black people, from his place of power in VT is also a concern in our community."
According to Dickinson, as the primary race moves away from predominantly white states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, and toward states such as South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, voters will likely be increasingly concerned about issues with racial implications. Race will therefore become a greater part of the political dialogue.
鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 be surprised to see more of these incidents,鈥� said Dickinson, 鈥渨here activists confront both [Democratic] candidates on issues of race.鈥�
鈥淎ctually, what is most striking to me,鈥� said Dr. McCarthy, 鈥渋s not that the Democratic candidates are talking too little about race, but the Republicans aren鈥檛 really talking about it at all.鈥�
