VIDEO: Hillary Clinton Huddles With Black Lives Matter Activists

Here’s one measure of how the Black Lives Matter movement has made its mark on national politics in a few short months: Some presidential candidates are recognizing the need to get with the proverbial program (or at least seem as if they are).

On Aug. 11, Hillary Clinton met with members of the anti-racist coalition for a hush-hush session in Keene, N.H., perhaps seeking out the organization before its representatives could publicly call her out —an experience suffered earlier this month by rival Bernie Sanders.

CNN on Tuesday relayed details from that meeting:

Throughout the 15-minute conversation, Clinton disagreed with the three activists from Black Lives Matter who had planned to publicly press the 2016 candidate on issues on mass incarceration at an event earlier this month in Keene, New Hampshire.

[…] The 2016 candidate even gave suggestions to the activists, telling them that without a concrete plan their movement will get nothing but “lip service from as many white people as you can pack into Yankee Stadium and a million more like it.”

“Look, I don’t believe you change hearts,” Clinton said, arguing that the movement can’t change deep seated racism. “I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You’re not going to change every heart. You’re not. But at the end of the day, we could do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own God-given potential.”

[…] The activists, led by Daunasia Yancey, founder of Black Lives Matter in Boston, pressed Clinton on her family’s role in promoting “white supremacist violence against communities of color.”

The protesters’ session with Clinton came about after they were shut out of the presidential hopeful’s campaign stop; her team claimed that was because the event was already at capacity and about to start when the activists sought entry.

In addition to articulating her own platforms and policies, Clinton also faces the task of answering for husband Bill Clinton’s actions during his tenure in the White House. As to whether she addressed their questions effectively, judging by Black Lives Matter’s Boston-based Twitter feed, she still has considerable work to do. “As FLOTUS, Senator, & Secretary of State, HRC had more influence than most on policies that led 2 systemic oppression of POC. #HollupHillary,” the group tweeted Monday.

Meanwhile, Sanders has also taken to Twitter to take civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson up on the request to talk policy with Black Lives Matter members, Politico reported Monday.

Watch footage of Clinton’s meeting from Aug. 11 below (via Good):

Part 1:

Part 2:

–Posted by Kasia Anderson