The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement continues to be a thorn in the side of Democratic politicians. BLM activists recently managed to secure a meeting with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, where they asked her some pointed questions about her past policy decisions.
The group was initially barred from entering a community forum on drug abuse being hosted by Clinton at Keene Middle School in New Hampshire. The event was sealed by the former first lady’s security. Clinton later met with BLM activists in an overflow room.
The group – affiliated with Black Lives Matter organizations in the Boston area — told reporters afterwards that they asked Clinton about her family’s history with the war on drugs, both at home and abroad. Specifically, activist Daunasia Yancey (who has been described as “the new face of Boston’s civil rights movement” by Boston Magazine) told reporters they asked Clinton about her family’s history with the war on drugs both at home and abroad and “how she felt about her involvement in that violence that has been perpetuated, especially against communities of color and against Black folks.”
“Can you give at least one tangible example of how you expect to reverse the health and human services disaster you orchestrated in impoverished, urban, non-white communities through the domestic [war on drugs] policy you’ve championed as FLOTUS and senator?” BLM activists asked.
The meeting with Clinton lasted about 15 minutes and included some contested questioning. Clinton also offered advice to BLM activists.
Black Lives Matters activists have been a vocal presence at campaign events hosted by Democratic politicians. They stormed the stage at the Netroots Nation conference interrupting speeches by Democratic candidates former Gov. Martin O’Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Activists who claimed to be involved with the BLM movement also stormed the stage and prevented Sanders from giving a speech at a campaign event in Seattle, Wash., drawing criticism from some Black liberals.
However, BLM protestors’ actions seem to be working. Sanders recently hired Symone Sanders, a Black social justice activist, to be his press secretary. He also released a racial justice manifesto outlining how he planned to address some of the issues BLM activists have raised, such as demilitarizing the police and ending the war on drugs.
“Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Samuel DuBose. We know their names. Each of them died unarmed at the hands of police officers or in police custody,” said Sanders on his campaign site. “We should not fool ourselves into thinking that this violence only affects those whose names have appeared on TV or in the newspaper. African Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.”
For Clinton’s part, she recently gave a speech calling for an end to mass incarceration, noting that a large percentage of the more than two million Americans currently in prison are low-level offenders.
No Black Person should even Think of Voting for her.. Her & Her Husband have done things That put Millions of US in Jails & Prisons. It took her MONTHS to say anything about Travon or M. Brown.. Now she shuts out BLM,, Maybe in a few MONTHS she will have some deep thought to say about this also.. Just because her Husband played the SAX once on Arsenio does Not means They care at all. When he was called the first Black president that gave them a pass to stab US in the back, Something she does continually
Around May 15, 2015, I received an email/ petition from Daily Kos, it stated:
“Stand with Hillary if you agree it's time to reform our criminal justice system”
To my disbelief, the email went on to say:
“Hillary spoke out and declared her intentions to take action and end the era of mass incarceration, address inequality, and restore trust between law enforcement and communities."
I filled out the blanks with my name and email address as instructed and then, I took advantage of the comment box, writing the following:
"Before I Stand with Hillary, I want her to lean in and then stand before Black Americans and apologize for the destruction of their families, for the loss of property, for the abuses and humiliation they endured. She and Bill caused those problems and now she hope to return to White House promising to fix the very problems they created?
Let's be explicit about the facts here and this new found realization. Hillary and Bill, were true to her motto, “kick the man out of the house" and this is what they did to African Americans me– removed Black men from their home, forcing Black women to become head-of-household with no shame. If anyone ought to fix this problem she and Bill are the ones, they have the experience. When Bill Clinton took office "the prison population-Local, State and Federal-was about 1.3 million.
1. When the Clintons left office “that number ballooned to over 2 million, the highest rate of incarceration-as well as the highest total number behind bars-in a democratic state in the history of the world.
2. Black families were destroyed, fatherless children and mothers lost men to the system Bill and Hillary created. Black Men are unable to get employment because of prison records, they [Bill and Hillary] undid the gains of 100 years.
3. They boost the economy on the "incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses." Hundreds of new prisons were built to accommodate nonviolent offenders, giving rise to a prison-industrial complex that defied the imagination.
4. New drug courts and judges were added to States and Federal rosters; 100,000 new police, with their attendant paraphernalia-guns, cruisers, station houses and adjunct non- uniformed personnel-were hired to search out small-time drug users; tens of thousands of jail and prison guards were added to State and Federal payrolls.
5. There was a booming Clinton's economy based on a brilliantly devised strategy: (a) Increase incarceration by three- quarters of a million, (b) add a couple of million workers to create and maintain the prison infrastructure, and (c) Lower unemployment and a healthier economy. And to help pay for it all,
6. Illegally gotten goods–via forfeitures. Tens of thousands of people had their property seized for the tiniest drug-law infractions.
7. They created paramilitary police squads that racked up hundreds of assaults on innocent people and killed alleged low-level dealers.
8. This duo left office with the economy strong, gains fueled by a vicious war against small-time drug users and dealers
9. Generations were destroyed and now Hillary steps up claiming to reform the criminal justice system?
10. Upon leaving office, Bill Clinton commuted the sentence of 51 individuals and pardoned another 151 all had committed serious crimes, he even pardon his own brother, Roger Clinton who was convicted on cocaine charges; yet he didn’t pardon the millions of Black men that were incarcerated for the same offense as Roger and thousands for lesser offenses– marijuana. He should have emptied the jails across the nation and created a real booming economy but instead the boom was achieved on the backs of Black Americans, again.
Hillary Clinton should apologizes for her role in this destruction and she should do so without seeking a vote from me.
And the latest State Department email dump shows Hillary mocking Harriet Tubman, calling Sen. Barbara Mikulski her "Harriett Tubman homegirl." There about 150 years of white privilege bubbling to the surface.