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20150811 HRC with Black Lives Matter [Keene, NH]

QUESTION: But youryou and your family have been personally and politically responsible
for policies that have caused Health and Human Services disasters in impoverished communities
of color to the domestic and international War on Drugs that you championed as First Lady,
Senator, and Secretary of State. And so I just want to know how you feel about your role in that
violence and how you plan to reverse it?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, you know, I feel strongly, which is why I had this town hall today.
And as the questions and comments from people illustrated, theres a lot of concern that we need
to rethink and redo what we did in response to a different set of problems.
And you know, in life, in politics, in governmentyou name ityouve got to constantly be
asking yourself, Is this working? Is this not? and if its not, what do we do better? And thats
what Im trying to do now on drugs, on mass incarceration, on police behavior and criminal
justice reform. Because I do think that there was a different set of concerns back in the 80s and
the early 90s. And now I believe that we have to look at the world as it is today and try and
figure out what will work now. And thats what Im trying to figure out and thats what I intend
to do as president.
QUESTION: Yeah. And I would offer that it didnt work then, either, and that those policies
were actually extensions of white supremacist violence against communities of color. And so I
just think I want to hear a little bit about that, about the fact that actually while
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, Im not sure
QUESTION: those policies were being enacted, they were ripping apart families and actually
causing death.
HILLARY CLINTON: Now, Im not sure I agree with you. Im not sure I disagree that any
kind of government action often has consequences. And certainly, the War on Drugs, which was
started back in the 80s, has had consequences. Increasing penalties for crime and three strikes
and youre out and all of those kinds of actions have consequences.
But its important to rememberand I certainly rememberthat there was a very serious crime
wave that was impacting primarily communities of color and poor people. And part of it was that
there was just not enough attention paid. So you know, you could argue that people who were
trying to address thatincluding my husband, when he was Presidentwere responding to the
very real concerns of people in the communities themselves.
QUESTION: Right.
HILLARY CLINTON: Now, I do think that a lot of what was tried and how it was implemented
has not produced the kinds of outcomes that any of us would want. But I also believe that there
are systemic issues of race and justice that go deeper than any particular law. And part of what
we have to do is address the laws. And then weve got to do a much better effort at being honest

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about the other obstacles and barriers that stand in the way of young people and others having
any hope and having any opportunity.
But I think that, as I said, some of this is coming about today because of the terrible instances of
violence that we have seen across our country. And I wouldntyou know, I wouldnt in any
way deny how powerful those have been and how they have to produce change. So what youre
doing as activists and as people who are constantly raising these issues is really important. So I
applaud and thank you for that. I really do. Because we cant get change unless theres constant
pressure.
QUESTION: Yeah.
HILLARY CLINTON: But now, the next stepso, you know, part of you need to keep the
pressure on, and part of you need to figure out, what do we do now? How are we going to do it?
You know, one of the men who asked me theasked me a question today, you know, was talking
about how as a young man he was thrown out of his house and ended up in foster care. He was,
you know, abused, molested, then turned to drugs and alcohol. Very common story, as you know,
right? And then, you know, he has a blackout and ends up that he killed somebody, ends up in
prison. And so hes saying, like, When do I get my life back? I made a mistake, but when do I
get my life back?
So I think there has to bein addition to the consciousness race, which you really have done the
lions share of the work in bringing outnow weve got to figure out, okay, what are we going
to do, and how are we going to do it? Because the first speech I gave in this campaign was on
mass incarceration. Its a problem Ive been worried about, thinking about it. The other day, a
friend of mine asked me to come speak at his conference in Columbia, and I said, You know, we
cantweve got to change it. How do we change it, and how do we have the opportunities for
reintegration that these young people deserve to have?
So we need a whole comprehensive planthat I am more than happy to work with you guys on
to try to figure out, okay, we know Black lives matter. We need to keep saying it so that
people accept it. What do we do next? What is our step?
QUESTION: I think that the next step, respectfully, and I have attempted to allow you, and I feel
like we have allowed space for a nice conversation and it is a pleasure and an honor to be in this
dialogue with you but I think that a huge part of what you haven't said is that you have offered a
recognition that mass incarceration has not worked, and that it is an unfortunate consequence of
government practices that just didn't work. But the truth is that there is an extremely long history
of unfortunate government practices that don't work that particularly affect Black people and
Black families, and until we as a country, and then the person whos in the seat that you seek,
actually addresses the anti-Blackness current that is Americas first drug.
We're in a meeting about drugs. America's first drug is free Black labor, and turning Black bodies
into profit and the mass incarceration system mirrors an awful lot like the prison plantation
system. Its a similar thread, and until someone takes that message and speaks that truth to White

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people in this country so that we can actually take on anti-Blackness as a founding problem in
this country, I don't believe that there is going to be a solution. Because what the conversations
that are happening now and why there is so much cohesion across the divide, the red side and the
blue side, its because of money, right, we are spending a lot of money on prisons. Were
spending more money on prisons than we are on schools, but if we look at it from lens of lets
solve this financial problem, and we don't look at the greater bottom line that African-Americans
who are Americans are suffering at greater rates than most other people, every other people, for
the length of this country then its not going to go away. Its just going to morph into something
new and evolved. You know, I genuinely want to know, you and your family, have been in no
uncertain way, partially responsible for this movement. More than most. There may have been
unintended consequences.
But now that you understand the consequences, what in your heart has changed thats going to
change the direction of this country? Like what in younot your platform, not what youre
supposed to saylike, how do you actually feel thats different than you did before? Like what
were the mistakes, and how can those mistakes that you made be lessons for all of America for a
moment of reflection on how we treat Black people in this country?
SPEAKER: I just wanted to say apologies. We have
QUESTION: I would really love to allow her to answer this question. Weve worked really
hard. Weve driven so many hours.
SPEAKER: Were not stoppingIm just letting you know, we have a couple more answers left,
more people (inaudible). Im not interrupting what youre about to say, Im just doing you a
heads up on timing.
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, obviously its a very thoughtful question, and deserves a thoughtful
answer. And I can only tell you that I feel very committed to and responsible for doing whatever
I can. I spent most of my adult life focused on kids, from the Childrens Defense Fund and then
efforts to try to give kidsparticularly poor kids, particularly, you know, Black kids and
Hispanic kidsthe same chance to live up to their God-given potential. And thats where Ive
been focused.
And I think that there has to be a reckoning. I agree with that. But I also think there has to be
some positive vision and plan that you can move people toward. Once you say, I mean, this
country has still not recovered from its original sinwhich is trueonce you say that, then the
next question, by people who are on the sidelineswhich is the vast majority of Americansthe
next question is, Well, what do you want me to do about it? What am I supposed to do about
it?
Thats what Im trying to put together in a way that I can explain and I can sell it. Because in
politics, if you cant explain it and you cant sell it, it stays on its shelf. And this is now a time
a moment in time, just like the Civil Rights Movement or the womens movement or the gay
rights movement or a lot of other movements reached a point in timethe people behind that
consciousness raising and advocacy, they had a plan ready to go. So that when you turn to, you

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know, the womens movementwe want to pass this and we want to pass that and we want to do
thisproblems are not taken care of, we know that.
Obviously, I know more about the Civil Rights Movement in the old days because I had a lot of
involvement in working with people. So they had a planthis piece of legislation, this court
case were going to make, et cetera, et cetera. Same with the gay rights movement. You know,
were sick of homophobia. Were sick of being discriminated against. We want marriage
equality. Were starting in the states, and were going to keep going until we get it at the highest
court in the land.
So all Im saying is, your analysis is totally fair. Its historically fair. Its psychologically fair.
Its economically fair. But youre going to have to come together as a movement and say,
Heres what we want done about it. Because you can get lip service from as many White
people as you can pack into Yankee Stadium and a million more like it, who are going to say,
Oh, we get it. We get it. Were going to be nicer.
That's not enoughat least in my book. That's not how I see politics. So the consciousnessraising, the advocacy, the passion, the youth of your movement is so critical. But now all I'm
suggesting iseven for us sinnersfind some common ground on agendas that can make a
difference right here and now in peoples lives, and that's what I would love to have your
thoughts about, because that's what I'm trying to figure out how to do.
So yeah, deal with mass incarceration. You know, it's not just an economic issuealthough I
grant that some of you will see it like that. But it's more than that and I think there is a sense that,
low level offenders, disparity treatment, we've got to do something about that. I think that a lot of
the issues about housing and about job opportunities"Ban The Box"a lot of these things, let's
get an agenda that addresses as much of the problem as we can. Because then you can be for
something, in addition to getting people to have to admit that they're part of a long history in our
country of, you know, either, you know, proposing, supporting, condoning discrimination,
segregation, etc. Now, what do we do next? And that's, that's what I'm trying to figure out in my
campaign, so that's what I'm doing.
QUESTION: The piece that's most important, and I stand here in your space, and I say this as
respectfully as I can, but you don't tell Black people what we need to do. And we won't tell you
all what you need to do.
HILLARY CLINTON: I'm not telling youI'm just telling you to tell me.
QUESTION: What I mean to say isthis is and has always been a White problem of violence.
It's notthere's not much that we can do to stop the violence against us.
HILLARY CLINTON: Well if that
QUESTION: And it's a conversation to push back
HILLARY CLINTON: Okay, Okay, I understand what you're saying

QUESTION: Respectfully, respectfully

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, respectfully, if that is your position then I will talk only to White
people about how we are going to deal with the very real problems
QUESTION: That's not what I mean. That's not what I mean. But like what I'm saying is what
you just said was a form of victim-blaming. Right you were saying that what the Black Lives
Matter movement needs to do to change white hearts
HILLARY CLINTON: Look I don't believe you change hearts. 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, to live safely without fear of violence in their own
communities, to have a decent school, to have a decent house, to have a decent future. So we can
do it one of many ways. You can keep the movement going, which you have started, and through
it you may actually change some hearts. But if that's all that happens, we'll be back here in 10
years having the same conversation. We will not have all of the changes that you deserve to see
happen in your lifetime because of your willingness to get out there and talk about this.
(indistinct chatter)
HILLARY CLINTON: Well I'm ready to do my part in any way that I can.