Her Mitt Romney Moment? Video Of Clinton’s Fundraiser Goes Viral
https://youtu.be/LqLfvQfuvsA
Two Black Lives Matter activists paid $500 to infiltrate a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in South Carolina on Wednesday night, and they filmed themselves asking for an apology for calling black youth “super-predators.”
When Hillary Clinton began speaking on the issue of criminal justice, Ashley Williams took out a crumpled homemade sign that said simply “We have to bring them to heel” with the hashtag #WhichHillary, and she stood silently facing the audience while Hillary continued speaking. Another anonymous activist filmed the event.
BREAKING#BlackLivesMatter interrupts Clinton Fundraiser 2/24/16 https://t.co/Un57rgrgez #NotASuperpredator pic.twitter.com/VFBNB9HHKH
— will ?????????? (@wheresmychoice) February 25, 2016
The young woman eventually caught the eye of Hillary, and Williams turned slowly to face her. Hillary began to read out the sign when Ashley interrupts her saying, “We want you to apologize for mass incarceration.”
Hillary says, “Okay, we’ll talk about it,” but Ashley interrupts, saying, “I’m not a super-predator, Hillary Clinton.”
Hillary cuts her off with “Okay fine, we’ll talk about it,” but Ashley went on, demanding an apology for her past actions.
She asks, “Could you apologize to black people for mass incarceration?” when Hillary interrupts again, saying, “Can I talk?”
Ashley says, “Yes. Yes, I want to listen to what you have to say.”
The audience of about a 100 people is clearly uncomfortable with this interruption and starts audibly hissing. Hillary turns back to the audience and begins talking, and a Secret Service agent walks over to Williams, places his hand on Williams’ shoulder, and says something that is too quiet for the mic to pick up. He appears to see the camera and drops his hand from Ashley’s shoulder.
Meanwhile, Hillary is saying, “Thank you very much, umm, there’s a lot of issues in this campaign. The very first speech that I gave, back in April was about criminal justice reform…”
Ashley interjects again, stating, “You called black people super-predators.”
Someone from the audience calls out “You’re being rude,” to which Ashley replies, “You called people super-predators, that’s rude. That’s rude.”
The audience gets more rowdy, and the words “This is not appropriate… this is not appropriate…” can be heard with audible boos and jeering.
Check out the crowd hissing at and telling #BLM activists who PAID $500 that they were "trespassing" #WhichHillary pic.twitter.com/Cpm5GR3P80
— a nice enough person, online (@bigkittenqueen) February 25, 2016
Hillary turns back to Ashley and asks, “Do you want to hear the facts or do you just want to talk?”
Ashley says to Hillary, “I know that you called black people super-predators back in 1994.”
From the audience, someone yells, “You’re trespassing!” but Ashley continues over the top of them, saying, “Please explain for the record, please explain it to us. You owe black people an apology!”
A clearly unimpressed voice from the audience says “Excuse us!” but Hillary appears to relent and offer to sincerely address the issue.
She says to Ashley, “Tell you what, you give me a chance to talk, I’ll broach your subject.”
Ashley asks her, “How come you’ve never addressed it before?”
Before she can get her question out, a second Secret Service agent approaches her and starts talking to her quietly.
Hillary answers, “You know what, you are the first person to ask me that before. I’m happy to address it, but you’re the first person to ask me,” as the agent puts his arm around Ashley and leads her to the door.
Williams doesn’t resist and walks quietly to the front door.
As soon as she’s gone, Hillary turns back to the audience and says “Okay, back to the issues.”
The audience are clearly relieved and whoop and clap with a loud “Yes!” and “Thank you!” Hillary resumes her speech, saying, “Now, the issues that I’ve been…”
The sign and Ashley’s questions refer to controversial statements Clinton made in 1996 in reference to at-risk youth as “super-predators,” comparing them to the mob and saying they had “no conscience, no empathy” and that “we have to bring them to heel.”
Williams clarified her intention in a statement issued before the event, saying, “Hillary Clinton has a pattern of throwing the Black community under the bus when it serves her politically.”
The statement, which was quoted in the Huffington Post, went on to say, “She called our boys ‘super-predators’ in ’96, then she race-baited when running against Obama in ’08, now she’s a lifelong civil rights activist. I just want to know which Hillary is running for President, the one from ’96, ’08, or the new Hillary?”
The question of #WhichHillary — the hashtag mentioned on the sign and in her statement — is currently trending on Twitter as of this writing.
Much has been made of race issues in the lead-up to the South Carolina primary on Saturday, with Hillary herself saying at the Town Hall on Tuesday night that it was time for white people to start listening and recognize “that our experiences may not equip us to understand what a lot of our African-American fellow citizens go through every single day.”
The Clinton camp has yet to comment on the incident.
[Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images]
