#BlackLivesMatter: Clintons’ War on Drugs Was Only Faught in Black Communities

LEMON: “Black Lives Matter activists. Making your voices heard on the campaign trail. Let's listen to some tense moments behind closed doors between Hillary Clinton and protesters this last week and it was in New Hampshire.”
[clip starts]
JONES: “I says this as respectfully as I can. Like if you don't tell black people what we need to do, then we won't tell you all what we need to do.” 
CLINTON: “I'm not telling you. I was telling you to tell me.”
JONES: “What I mean to say is that this is and has always been a problem of violence. There's not much that we can do to stop the violence against us.” 
CLINTON: “Well, if that is the –“ [Crosstalk]
JONES: “And it's a conversation that close fact.”
CLINTON: “OK. I understand. I understand want you're saying.” 
JONES: “Yes, and also respectfully –“
CLINTON: “Yes. Well, respectfully, if that is your position, then I will talk only to white people about how we're going to deal with the very real problems.” 
JONES: “That's not what I mean.”
[clip ends]
LEMON: “Joining me now, the activist you saw in that clip. Julius Jones, the founder of Black Lives Matter, Western Massachusetts. And also, Daunasia Yancey who's a founder and leader organizer of Black Lives Matter of Boston. Thank you, guys, for coming in. I appreciate it. So, there was some you had some really tough questions. What did you want Hillary Clinton to say? What were you trying to -- what answers were you trying to get out of her, Julius?” 
JONES: “Hillary Clinton and Clinton family occupy a unique space in the mass incarceration that we experienced for the black community in the United States is experiencing today. Where the policies that they advanced are directly responsible for the largest increase in the prison population under any U.S. president. So, what we were looking for was something a little bit beyond the politics and the platform and what emotions she felt, if any, around her being person responsible and change for that.” 
LEMON: “Do you think she answered that question?” 
YANCEY: “No, that's not what we heard. What we heard was a conversation about policy. And actually some suggestions from what the Black Lives Matter movement needs to be doing. And again, I went to this side what we were looking for was some personal reflection on her education and advocacy for some of these policies that have really decimated black community.” 
LEMON: “But as far as she was talking to you about policy and how to change things really change with policy and with legislation. You didn't hear any of that in what she was saying?” 
JONES: “Oh, no. We definitely -- we definitely heard it. I mean, we were there and we were in conversation with her. And there was something that I was readily apparent but that's what she was offering. But I was also readily apparent about what she was not offering was the fact that the reason why the Black Lives Matter movement that she was trying to push her responsibility on to fix these problems, part of the reasons why this problem exists is because of some of the decisions that she made personally.” 
LEMON: “Because of her husband made.” 
JONES: “She lobbied for it and she advanced it as FLOTUS and she also advanced it as a Senator of New York.” 
LEMON: “OK. I want you to listen to this. Because since you mentioned the former president, this is how he handled race relations. There was an issue with race relations back in the '90 when he was running in a very similar situation to this. Take a listen.”
[clip starts]
BILL CLINTON: “Last year, she said you can't call me or any black person anywhere in the world a racist. We don't have the power to do to white people what white people have done to us. And even if we did, we don't have that low down dirty nature. If there are any good white people, I haven't met them? Where are they? Right here in this room. That's where they are. I know she is a young person, but she has a big influence on a lot of people. And when people say that, if you took the words white and black and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech. I think all of us have got to be sensitive that we can't get anywhere in this country pointing to finger at one another across racial lands. If we do that, we're dead. And they will beat us.” 
[clip ends]
LEMON: “So, he was talking about republicans will beat them. And he's talking about sister soldier who said that maybe, you know, black people should kill white people, what have you. But they were talking about racial injustice. He was talking about racial injustice and having made some mistakes. And when you make a mistake, you own it. But ultimately, you have to work together. No one says exactly what you want them to say in a negotiation. Do you understand what he was saying? And even if that relates now to Hillary Clinton. She's not going to have perfect language and neither is Bernie Sanders. What are you looking for them to say? The language that you want them to say?” 
YANCEY: “So, what we're looking for, in the challenging of these presidential candidates is for them and advance the nuance understanding a racial -- of racial dynamics in this country. We had some expectations of presidents, right, that they have. In the economic that they have international policy understanding. And I think that what we're seeing is that any president of this country needs to have an advanced nuance understanding of racial dynamics. And that's not what we saw from Hillary Clinton.” 
JONES: “And it's important to note that while he was saying that, he was also writing laws and passing legislation that directly translated into the breaking up of families. By locking away people for extremely long amounts of time, for extremely minor drug offenses. Black people, at much higher rates than their white counterparts, even though, whites and blacks use drugs at the same rates.” 
LEMON: “So, during that, you, the Black Lives Matter organization asked for no media to be present during your talk with Clinton? But –“
YANCEY: “That's correct.” 
LEMON: “-- you filmed it. You didn't -- OK. Go ahead. Explain it. Because it was filmed and it was put out there. Why released the video?”
YANCEY: “So, we weren't ever asked anything about the media. So, our plan was to go in and then ask her a question in the public forum. When we arrived, we weren't able to do that. We were offered the opportunity to speak with her one-on-one. And we filmed it, so that we would have this video, that we would be able to publish. I think it's really important that the public see our, you know, the presidential candidate's reactions to this type of question. But we never offered or asked about any media presence.” 
LEMON: “So, why do you think it's important for the public to see this?” 
JONES: “Because the United States needs to have a conversation, a deep conversation about how we treat each other. How Americans treat Americans. How white Americans treat black Americans. And the long -- longer than the Clintons' history of it. If you look at the way the drugs are persecuted in our society today, particularly with heroin today, there's a massive heroin epidemic in the United States largely in rural United States and this is affecting largely whether you like it. And it's all these conversations about treatment programs and ways that we can get our community back together.”
LEMON: “Yes.”
JONES: “If you rewind 40 years ago, to the '60s and '70s the way that they handled the heroin problem in the black community, the way that they handled the crack problem in the black community was very different. The way that they handled drunk driving with –“ [Crosstalk]
LEMON: “Republican candidates are talking about. Rand Paul is talking about that particular issue. And the disparities, and drugs, and the thing between whites and blacks. It's coming from democrats from progressives. It's coming from the conservative side. Does that matter to you?” 
JONES: “What matters is the way that the United States conducted a war on drugs.” 
LEMON: “But does that matter to you that it is not coming –“ [Crosstalk]
JONES: “The war on drugs that occurred on the black community. The war on drugs doesn't actually exist.” 
LEMON: “I understand what you're saying.” 
JONES: “It's war on drug users. Except when it comes to white users.”
LEMON: “But then why political process that we're having now and you are interrupting or disrupting progressive's liberals. Is that why you're doing it? Because conservatives are talking about it in this way and at least one is talking about it in a way that progressives or liberals are not talking about it. 
JONES: “We are disrupting the election process. I won't even actually call it disrupting -- I think we're participating in the election process. And just because we're not doing it in a way that is respectable or as part of process, I don't think it validates the participation. A big part of what we're bringing is a different form of conversation, right? Because that's exactly what needs to happen. The United States does not have or good racial analysis.”