Bill Clinton To Protesters: You Are Defending the People Who Kill the Lives You Say Matter
He’s at it again. This time I have to say President Clinton held his own against the protesters – even though their issue is valid and a point I often make. Both Clinton’s must realize they can’t change the facts and statistics about how his tough on crime bill contributed to the high incarceration rate on nonviolent Black men and women. I believe the Clinton duo would fare better if they admit to the negative impact their “war on crime” had on the Black community every time they talk about it, not just sometimes.
So, what did Bill do this time? According to a Reuters article by Luciana Lopez and Jonathan Allen, former President Bill Clinton debated a protester speaking honestly about the impact Clintons 1994 crime reforms had on the Black community.
The article says several protesters in Philadelphia heckled thr former president and held up signs. One read: “Clinton Crime Bill Destroyed Our Communities.”
Activists in the Black Lives Matter have circulated video footage of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calling young people in gangs “super-predators” as she defended her husbands reforms. When Hillary Clinton was challenged by protesters on her remarks, she recently said she regretted her language. However, Bill Clinton stands by his wife’s 1994 remarks.
“I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children,” he said, shaking his finger at a heckler as Clinton supporters cheered, according to video of the event. “Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She (Hillary Clinton) didn’t.”
“You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter,” he told a protester. “Tell the truth.”
The article addressed the fact that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1.05 million prisoners were held in federal or state facilities in 1994. By 2014, it was 1.56 million. That year, 6 percent of all black men in their 30s were in prison, a rate six times higher than that of white men of the same age.
Although Bill Clinton continued to defend his crime bill and his wife’s remarks, the article notes that the former president did publicly admit to regrets about the bill in the past.
Bill Clinton said last year that he regretted signing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law because it contributed to the high incarceration rate of black people for nonviolent crimes. On Thursday, he did not explicitly recant those regrets, but appeared to be angry at any suggestion the bill was wholly bad.
Read the full story at Reuters.com.