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Bill Clinton Regrets Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters – Will Showdown Hurt Hillary Clinton’s Campaign?

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 22:00 PST, Apr 9, 2016

Bill Clinton had a run in with Black Lives Matter protesters and the way that he responded to the group might just come back to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign. When protesters began shouting at the Philadelphia rally, Clinton reacted by talking over them and aggressively defending the policies of his own presidential run in the ’90s. That led the way for many to begin breaking down and criticizing many of Bill’s policies, some of which cannot be credited with helping Black families in any way. Will Bill’s bad reaction lose votes for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race?

Considering that Hillary still holds a majority of the support from black Democratic voters, her husband’s reaction to the Black Lives Matter protesters who came to his Philadelphia rally is shocking. When protesters started chanting at Bill, his response was to yell over them. “Can I answer?” Clinton yelled at the crowd. “Here’s the thing, I like protesters. But the ones who won’t let you answer are afraid of the truth.”

According to The Guardian, Bill spoke for 10 minutes after finally getting the protesters to quiet down enough that he wasn’t yelling over them. In that 10 minutes, he might have lost more black voters for Hillary than she can afford and he began a conversation about a few controversial bills that were passed during his presidency that still negatively affect black Americans to this day.

Black Lives Matter protesters want to talk about Bill Clinton’s 1994 crime bill and his 1996 welfare reform bill. These are two of Clinton’s biggest presidential accomplishments that still affect Americans today and have proved to be horrible for many black American families. Rather than helping minorities to overcome systemic racism and to rise up despite many obstacles that black families face at a much higher rate than others, those two bills from the ’90s proved to increase the incarceration rates of black men and disqualify needy families from receiving benefits that they need to survive.

Some may argue that the policies of the ’90s belonged to Bill Clinton, not his wife who is running for office now. That is not the case, though, and Hillary proudly supported both controversial bills. “I don’t know how you would characterize gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children,” Bill Clinton said while waving a finger at protesters. “Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didn’t.”

Does that mean Hillary suddenly thinks those citizens are good? Or that they deserve a chance at reform now too? Or is Hillary Clinton finally admitting that privatizing prisons and drastically increasing the incarceration rates of black males is not only bad for business but it’s not working to fix anything? Whatever the case may be, Hillary has spent the better part of the year trying to distance herself from many of Bill’s old policies.

Now that the damage is done, she is talking about reforming the 1994 crime bill and she even wants to rework that NAFTA agreement that she so proudly stood behind. Suddenly, Hillary has even stood behind the call for a $15 an hour minimum wage, previously standing her ground at $12 in a bid to “find common ground.”

Hillary Clinton has done a great job at retaining support from black voters even when her competitor, Bernie Sanders, literally stood and protested with them during civil rights. Even though she supported that 1994 crime bill that led to more black men in jail, not less. And even when she supported that 1996 welfare reform act that put restrictions on benefits that affected a disproportionate number of black families compared to any other race.

Now that Bill Clinton showed just how little respect he has for the Black Lives Matter movement and the black voters who have supported his family for decades, it wouldn’t be surprising if Hillary’s support by black voters started to crumble. It’s even more telling that after the fact, Bill is regretful of his response to the protesters but not because he wants to help them or hear what they have to say. Bill Clinton is sorry because he knows that his response hurt his wife’s campaign for the 2016 presidency.

[Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images]

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