2016 Postmortem

demmiblue

(36,865 posts) Wed Apr 13, 2016, 11:27 AM Apr 2016

Black protesters say Clinton supporters roughed them up after they disrupted Bill’s Philly rally

Source: RawStory

When #BlackLivesMatter protesters took to the stage during Netroots Nation disrupting Martin O’Malley’s and Bernie Sanders’ interviews many of the largely white rally attendees weren’t happy. They were there to see O’Malley and Sanders answer intense questions on policy issues. When protesters at Donald Trump rallies dare to raise a sign or their voice in dissent, violence is generally the result. But last week proved that Hillary Clinton supporters, including former President Bill Clinton, are not immune to hostility for #BlackLivesMatter.

Rufus Farmer and Erica Mines were the two that were at the Philadelphia rally demanding answers from Clinton on policing, mass incarceration and the 1995 Clinton Crime Bill. The intention was to protest at the rally but stand silently with their signs. They didn’t go in to cause trouble much less incite mob violence much less draw the ire of a former president. Their reception from the crowd of Clinton supporters wasn’t a Trump-punch in the face, but it wasn’t a gracious welcome either. According to an interview with Chauncey Devega there were a lot of unwanted hands being placed on them in the crowd.

“There was a lot going on in a physical manner. People were approaching Erica and putting their hands on her,” Farmer described. “I didn’t really take it all in, Clinton’s retort, until we started watching more of the video footage from the event, seeing him pointing his finger, getting red in the face, making these wild accusations toward us. I was focusing more on my own safety, and of course Erica’s safety, and what was going on around us in that room.”

Mines acknowledged that protesters are always going to be seen as “the other” in a crowd of whatever supporters are attending a rally, but it isn’t the protesters that have been the violent ones. “Bill Clinton was not the only person wagging their finger in the building that day,” Maines said. “The actual confrontation started when a white lady came up to me and told me that I needed to be ashamed of myself for disrupting the event. You also have black liberals and gatekeepers who are taunting you and going along with the chastisement.”