Former president Bill Clinton got angry in Philadelphia during a 10-minute conversation with protesters while defending his wife’s presidential bid on Thursday.
The clash with Black Lives Matter protesters came about over a 1994 crime bill that cracked down on gang crime, and, for the most part, the former president kept his cool.
However, at some points, Clinton got angry, saying, “I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack, and sent them out in the streets to murder other African-American children,” the former president said. “Maybe you thought they were good citizens—she didn’t.”
Some of the protesters held up signs that said “Clinton Crime Bill Destroyed Our Communities” and “Welfare Reform Increased Poverty.” They also shouted that “black youth are not super predators,” referencing a phrase then-First Lady Hillary Clinton used in a 1996 speech about violent crime committed by young people.
Clinton was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, which he parried, pointing to his wife’s history working to desegregate the Alabama private school system.
