Black Lives Matter Protesters Interrupt Hillary Clinton's Speech at Clark Atlanta University
Hillary Clinton was confronted by Black Lives Matter protesters who interrupted her campaign speech at Clark Atlanta University on Friday.
About a dozen protesters aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement began chanting and singing just moments after the Democratic presidential front runner began addressing the audience at the historically black college, reports The Associated Press.
At the beginning of their protest, Clinton acknowledged the demonstrators saying, "Yes, black lives do matter." She then tried to ignore them and discuss her policy for criminal justice reform, without much avail.
"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," Clinton said, while trying to speak over the disruption, CNN reports.
Eventually, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, who had introduced Clinton just minutes before, and singer Usher stepped in and asked the protesters to stop interrupting. However, their efforts failed and the protesters continued to drown out parts of the presidential candidate's speech for close to 30 minutes.
As the protests continued, Clinton supporters began chanting "Let her talk, Let her talk" and "Hillary! Hillary" very loudly, according to The Guardian. That effectively quelled the demonstrators and lead them to exit the arena.
Clinton then went on to finish her speech and thank Rep. Lewis and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed for backing her up at the event.
"I am glad the congressman and the mayor have my back," she said.
The former first lady also talked about her plan to combat systemic racism in the criminal justice system and racial profiling.
"Race still plays a significant role in determining who gets ahead in America and who gets left behind," Clinton said. "Racial profiling is wrong, demanding, doesn't keep us safe or help solve crimes."
Friday evening, #AUCShutItDown, an Atlanta-based group affiliated with Black Lives Matter, took ownership of the protest and explain that their goal was to press the former secretary of state to directly address issues affecting the African-American community.
"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 in a statement. "We've been waiting for weeks to see the platform that addresses these issues from Hillary Clinton's campaign. We will wait no more."
In a video that was apparently recorded on the day of the protest, one of the #AUCShutItDown protesters said, "We're not going to allow for Hillary to come here and have a cookie-cutter black conversation and to exploit black production for her vote."
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