Black Lives Matter interrupts Hillary Clinton rally
On Friday, Hillary Clinton was speaking at a historically black university in Atlanta when she was interrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters.
On Friday, Hillary Clinton was speaking at a historically black university in Atlanta when she was interrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters.
She was only a few minutes into her speech when protesters began chanting, “black lives matter.”
“Yes they do and I’m gonna talk a lot about that in a minute,” she said.
She then continued to try to speak over the protesters, saying, “I have some issues to discuss and proposals to make if our friends will allow me to do it. They may actually find them to their liking.”
The protests continued, with some chanting “Let her speak!” to try to drown them out. It was not until Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon stepped in and spoke with the protesters that they quieted down.
After the interruption, Clinton continued her speech, which was about criminal justice reform and race.
The Black Lives Matter group #AUCShutItDown said they had protested the event to try to force Clinton to directly address racial issues.
“Unfortunately, rhetoric DOES NOT save us, nor does it give confidence to black voters that we can trust Hillary to prioritize the necessity of ensuring our safety,” the group said. “We’ve been waiting for weeks to see the platform that addresses these issues from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. We will wait no more.”
After the protest, Don Lemon interviewed Avery Jackson in a news story in which he said that protesters should “grow up” and stop “yelling” at people who are sympathetic to their cause.
Jackson said that Clinton and others weren’t saying enough and that they were “pushing a monolithic image of what it means to be black.”
Lemon responded, “If you’re yelling at me, why would I listen to you?” He went on to point out that Clinton was in favor of proposals that the Black Lives Matter movement favors.
