Last week, Hillary was in Chicago to promote her candidacy when she was approached by angry protestors who went after both her and her husband for their political actions and statements. Bill was first to defend his wife, but was later regretful that he had let his temper get the better of him. This small incident shows a deeper problem with the reactions of the country today.
The Black Lives Matter campaigns has received almost as much controversy as the 2016 Presidential campaign, and it remains a poorly branded crusade for many of the people on the outside. Regardless of your take on the issues, its common nature for people to perk up to a statement this bold, and to immediately challenge the claims. Since when was anyone saying that they didn’t matter? Does this mean that other people’s lives don’t matter? The battle has caused people to pick up their heads, which is partially what the activists want. However, it seems to be pushing many people in the wrong direction, including Bill Clinton.
In 1994, Mr. Clinton signed a bill that lengthened sentences for a variety of offenders in the justice system. The protestors said it disproportionately affected black youth, and unnecessarily increased the prison system’s population.
For Bill’s part, he stated that he’d spoken with a variety of black people during the time the law passed who implored him to do something for their community. They felt desperate because too many kids were killing each other. He was especially disheartened when he heard that 13 year old children were so entrenched in the gang life that they were already making plans for their own funeral. Bill Clinton said that it wasn’t fair of the protestors to stick up for the killers, and that they were simply trying to get on TV.
Publicity is a major target for the Black Lives Matter campaign, and they’ve relied on making outrageous statements with little backing in order to incense people into giving them the spotlight. Again though, the merit of being angry about something that happened over 20 years ago isn’t inspiring people to abandon their own ideals to join the movement.
If the Black Lives Matter crowd was hoping for an apology, they most certainly didn’t get it. What Mr. Clinton did concede was that he had spoken off the cuff, and that he wants the political discourse in this country to be elevated to the point where one side can hear the other. This will be tough to do if the nation is stuck in the past, and continues to blame politicians for the failures of communities to support one another. It’s just another example of how the real issues are distorted, especially considering that both Clintons have already admitted that the bill had its share of flaws.
The bill also included funding more activities for inner-city children, but there’s no appreciation of this part of the bill on the part of the protestors. When liberals think that they can extend a hand — a hand containing the resources of hard-working Americans — it is too often met by resentment for the people it was meant to help.
Republicans may not have had much a dog in this particular fight, but the addendums on the 1994 bill that were the harshest were inspired by Republican ideals. Having consequences for crime does not violate an imaginary principal that black lives don’t matter. It simply serves to deter criminals at every end of the spectrum and offer rehabilitation when possible to decrease frequency.
For Hillary’s part, she continues to pay back her pound of flesh for calling certain gang members ‘super predators’ back in 1996, as the group passionately let her know that she made a grave mistake. It’s this type of disorganization that leads to a discordant nation and inspires disdain for leaders. Instead of the people of the campaign working on bettering their community from the inside out, they also let the accusation fly that Bill’s welfare reform was the very factor that increased African-American poverty, to which Clinton responded that poverty amongst this demographic was the lowest that the country had seen. Bill also stated that it was his wife’s work as a lawyer that contributed to desegregation in Alabama schools.
