Hilary Clinton bumrushed by #BlackLivesMatter

Why is the headline of this post "Hilary Clinton bumrushed by #BlackLivesMatter?" Where is the responsible "journalism" here when the video clearly states that the Secretary met with the group after a campaign event? If there was more background to the story that necessitated the headline, it should have been mentioned at the least.

On substance, both sides were spot on. Since that video, here have been that BlackLivesMatter has developed a legislative agenda that addresses federal, state and local criminal justice policies that disproportionately affect black people in a harmful way According to a press release, their plan calls for:

• Ending "broken windows" policing, which aggressively polices minor crimes in an attempt to stop larger ones
• using community oversight for misconduct rather than having police decide what consequences officers face
• making standards for reporting police use of deadly force
• independently investigating and prosecuting police misconduct
• having the racial makeup of police departments reflect the communities they serve
• requiring officers to wear body cameras
• providing more training for police officers
• ending for-profit policing practices
• ending the police use of military equipment
• implementing police union contracts that hold officers accountable for misconduct

(Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34023751)

A few more things that should be addressed is grand jury selection processes and ensuring that they are representative of the communities they serve, prosecutor-police conflicts of interest in cases where they are on opposing sides of the law, and the high accountability threshold that we have established that allows police to claim fear for their lives as a reason to shoot to kill.

Any other thoughts?


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I'm gonna focus more on the way that the other reporter/organizer? cut off the brother as he was attempting to get his answer. I think that as a fellow administrator (in education, not politics), we have to take time out to make sure that problems are being addressed and not be so consumed with pointing fingers or giving people "lip service." If I were Hilary, I probably would have prefaced my answer with - "I understand that I do not have enough time to adequately answer all of your concerns - but before I leave today, I would like to set up a time to meet privately and a little more a length with you about this issue. Bob...Hey Bob...can you make sure to check my calendar and set this up for me." IF she really cared about the issue...

 

Usually when politicians do that, they are either being very genuine or trying to blow you off. In fact, that's the ideal way to blow someone off and further prolong the conversation. The Secretary answered appropriately, in my opinion. It's one thing to say there's a problem. One has to bring to the table practical solutions to the problem as well. Black LIves Matter's time with HRC would have been better well spent asking for her support for specific policies or platforms.