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Above: Protesters raise their arms while interrupting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as she speaks, in the background, during a campaign event at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta on Friday, by Associated Press.

Students Who Interrupted Hillary Clinton: ‘Rhetoric Is Not Enough. We Need To See Action’

Clinton was at a rally in Atlanta to unveil her criminal justice reform plan.

Hillary Clinton was drowned out by student activists while introducing her criminal justice reform platform in Atlanta on Friday. 

Two of the student activists who interrupted Hillary Clinton’s rally Friday at Clark Atlanta University said the title of the event — “African Americans for Hillary” — explains why they decided to drown out the presidential candidate’s remarks.

“That raises a question, because I’m wondering, why it isn’t Hillary for African Americans?” Avery Jackson, one of the students, told The Huffington Post. “Because that’s the issue. She continues to exploit the spaces that black people value.”

“She doesn’t really express the centering and prioritizing of black issues, which are at the root American issues,” he continued. “I think we see that with the campaign — that she sees the issues of black people outside of the American agenda.”

Clinton was at the university to unveil her criminal justice reform plan. She has been heavily criticized during the campaign for her past support for tough-on-crime initiatives that facilitated mass incarceration.

Though Clinton acknowledges her missteps on this issue, Jackson said Clinton isn’t offering any concrete ways to fix the problem or reverse the damage that has been done.

“She talks about prison reform and changing lives moving forward, but I honestly think there’s a conversation that needs to be centered around the lives that her and her husband have ruined,” he said, referring to the effects of strict criminal justice policies implemented by the Bill Clinton administration.

Protest at Hillary Clinton delivers her speech. pic.twitter.com/DcfQ42OeVD

— Darren Sands (@darrensands) October 30, 2015

Fists raised, protesters chant “It is out duty to fight for our freedom! We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Clinton goes on.

— Darren Sands (@darrensands) October 30, 2015

Clinton is speaking over the protesters who are right near the stage.

— Darren Sands (@darrensands) October 30, 2015

“At this point, rhetoric is not enough. We need to see action,” he added.

The protests at Friday’s rally appeared to be organized in part by historically black colleges in the Atlanta University Center Consortium, which represents Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and the Interdenominational Theological Center. A Twitter account affiliated with the movement, which calls itself the AUC Shut It Down coalition, posted a statement Friday afternoon saying, “We charge the administration, law enforcement, and collective student bodies of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) for the multiple offenses committed against black and brown lives.” Activist Shiranthi Goonathilaka told HuffPost she had expected to see an actual policy platform today instead of more rhetoric. “Even though we interrupted her, she still didn’t lay out what that plan was. She just kept on saying little sound bites of how she understands the problem and [how] we need to fix them,” she said. Goonathilaka added that African Americans aren’t responsible for coming up with solutions for criminal justice reform, even though activists would be involved in the conversation. “Hillary Clinton is running for president of the United States. She has to come up with ways to claim what she wants to happen to really happen,” she said. Jackson said the reason Clinton is being targeted is because she “continues to come into our spaces and continues to press this PR agenda to gain black votes. At some point we have to … step up and realize that PR is not enough to save us.” He also criticized the other Democratic front-runners for marginalizing black people. “Black people are Americans. I think a lot of presidential candidates forget that. They are having side conversations about black lives,” he said. According to a transcript of Clinton’s remarks released by her campaign, the candidate was interrupted at one point by audience members saying, “Black lives matter.” “And yes, they do,” Clinton responded. “Yes, they do.  Yes, they do, and I’m going to talk a lot about that in a minute.” The protests appear to be organized in part by historically black colleges in the Atlanta University Center Consortium, which represents Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and the Interdenominational Theological Center. The movement calls itself the AUC Shut It Down coalition. An affiliated Twitter account posted a statement Friday afternoon saying, “We charge the administration, law enforcement, and collective student bodies of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) for the multiple offenses committed against black and brown lives.” The account subsequently posted a number of videos with people on the scene. In one video, a man says, “We’re not going to allow for Hillary to come here and have a cookie-cutter black conversation and to exploit … black production for her vote.”

pic.twitter.com/HJK2ii2wy1

— #AUCShutItDown (@AUCShutItDown) October 30, 2015

Another woman expressed a problem with having “Hillary come in … to get votes but no one has reached out to the student population [and] asked what their opinions were, what they have issues with.”

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was in attendance, and tried to intervene.

Lewis putting his hands on the shoulders of the protesters. Trying to speak with them. pic.twitter.com/keqzzBXKXL

— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) October 30, 2015

Students shout “let her talk!” and then the protesters, arm-in-arm, were taken out of the gym. pic.twitter.com/1zcAblP95y

— Darren Sands (@darrensands) October 30, 2015

href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-hillary-clinton_56180c44e4b0e66ad4c7d9fa” target=”_blank”>sat down with several prominent leaders who advocate for policing and criminal justice reform. She met with DeRay Mckesson, Brittany Packnett, Johnetta Elzie and Samuel Sinyangwe, all of whom are affiliated with Campaign Zero and We the Protesters.

“In the end, I felt heard,” Mckesson told HuffPost of the meeting. “It was a tough conversation, and we didn’t agree about every approach or everything. But she was willing to be pushed, and it was a candid conversation, and that’s important.”

The same man who accused Hillary of engaging in a “cookie-cutter black conversation” said that while he trusted Clinton’s meetings with the Campaign Zero activists, he doesn’t think the candidate appeals to the concerns of the broader black community.

*  *  *

More details on the event via Reuters:

Hillary Clinton promised to sign an order to “ban the box,” prohibiting federal employers and contractors from asking about criminal histories at the initial application stage. The change would give job seekers a chance to first prove their qualifications.

“People who have paid their dues to society need to be able to find jobs,” Clinton said at a rally at Clark Atlanta University, where she rolled out an “African Americans for Hillary” group and had lunch with a group of black ministers. “We believe in second chances, don’t we?” […]

Clinton was interrupted briefly by protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement, but pressed on with her speech. The protesters were eventually removed.

She promised to back legislation to ban federal, state and local law enforcement from relying on ethnicity when initiating routine investigations, and change sentencing rules so crack and powder cocaine convictions are treated the same.

All of the changes are aimed at laws that Clinton said disproportionately hurt minorities. Currently, those convicted of using crack face far steeper penalties than powder users.

“We’re talking about two forms of the same drug,” she said. “It makes no sense to treat them differently.”

Crack, the smoked “hard” form of cocaine, is cheaper than the usually snorted powder version and is more widespread in lower-income communities. Government data from 2009 showed nearly 80 percent of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses were black. Powder cocaine users tend to be white.

Sanders said he agreed with Clinton‘s initiative on ending sentencing disparities but any “serious” criminal justice reform should include his proposal to remove marijuana from the list of the most dangerous drugs outlawed by the federal government, a step Clinton has not endorsed.

“We must recognize that blacks are four times more likely than whites to get arrested for marijuana possession, even though the same proportion of blacks and whites use marijuana,” Sanders said in a statement.

Samantha Lachman contributed reporting.