Black Mayor Downplays Clinton’s Role in Crime Bill: ‘She’s Not an Elected Official at the Time’

MITCHELL: “Do you think that will resonate with younger African-American voters? Is there a divide, a generational divide.”
BENJAMIN: “I think there are major challenges that we’re facing in America right now. Some challenges, and they are all systemic challenges. They go back to the birth of this great country. The reality is we’ve come a long way over the last 30, 40, 50 years, but we still have a lot of challenges we have to solve. That’s one of the reason I’m supporting Secretary Clinton because she has not only put great plans on the table for addressing the issues of systemic racism and some of the challenges we’re facing in law enforcement, some of which we are tackling here in Colombia, but she has a history of doing so over the last several decades in public life. You know, I love the fact that some of the young people are so actively engaged in the political process wherever they are in that process. It's a good thing when the young people involve themselves in talking about major issues of public policy. I hope every single one of them votes this Saturday and the other elections across the country. But we’ve got to make sure we focus on real policy solutions to some incredibly entrenched and systemic problems, and that’s what Hillary Clinton is doing.”
MITCHELL: “What about her 1996 report about mandatory minimum sentences, which according to a lot of analysis and certainly Black Lives Matter, resulted in the incarceration of thousands and thousands of African-Americans, mainly men, nonviolent crimes--"[crosstalk] 
BENJAMIN: “Sure. I would say that we’re all -- and obviously there is piece penned with 'The New York Times,' just yesterday that talked about somewhat of ways we’re working together, asking Congress to address some of the mistakes made in 1996. Let’s make one thing clear. Only one person running for president voted for the 1996 bill was Bernie Sanders. It wasn’t Hillary Clinton. She was not an elected official at the time. However, America at that time was at a very different place. We made some very bad decisions. It’s time to go back and rectify those decisions. And she has put forward a plan, and thankfully so is the Senator Sanders, to try and address those issues. But certainly, there are a whole lot of people who opinions we all respect, who held very different views as we were trying to attack the crack epidemic that was just just destroying American cities all across the great country. And the way we did it back in 1996 is not the way we need to handle it in 2016. We’re being much more thoughtful."
MITCHELL: “Steve Benjamin, thank you. Thank you for your hospitality. We love Columbia.”