Stephen Colbert holds a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor labeled, "Hillary, Whatever Flavor You Want This to be"
By Mahroh Jahangiri • @mahrohj • 8 years ago

#WhichHillary? Twitter trend calls out Clinton on racism, prisons, and war

During a white and wealthy private fundraiser Wednesday night in South Carolina, Black Lives Matter activist Ashley Williams demanded Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton explain her support of “tough on crime” laws that led to mass incarceration of Black Americans. 

As Clinton spoke at the event, Williams—who had donated $500 to get into the event—held out a banner reading “We have to bring them to heel,” quoting a line from Clinton’s racist 1994 “super-predator” speech. “I’m not a super-predator, Hillary Clinton. Will you apologize to black people for mass incarceration?” Williams said before being booed, creepily hissed at, and thrown out.

Clinton’s response? “Now back to the issues.”

In a statement over at the Huffington Post, Williams explains that her protest was meant to highlight inconsistencies in Clinton’s record on racial justice:

“Hillary Clinton has a pattern of throwing the Black community under the bus when it serves her politically […] 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?”

#WhichHillary has since taken off on Twitter. The conversation around Hillary’s hypocrisy on anti-Black racism and prisons, as well as a host of other progressive issues is everything I (and likely the Bernie campaign) have been hoping for the past few months. S/o to Williams for making this happen.

Mahroh is a community organizer and law student who believes in building a world where black and brown women and our communities are able to live free of violence. Prior to law school, Mahroh was the Executive Director of Know Your IX, a national survivor- and youth-led organization empowering students to end gender violence and a junior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research addresses the ways militarization, racism, and sexual violence impact communities of color transnationally.

Mahroh is currently at Harvard Law School, organizing against state and gender-based violence.

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