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Hillary Clinton

Source: Getty

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is under fire for saying what most White liberals refuse to say about pervasive and persistent racism in America.

Clinton, a White Baby Boomer who came of age during the Civil Rights Movement, told three members from Black Lives Matter “we can’t change hearts, but we must change laws,” reports Good magazine.

Clinton received criticism for making the statement to activists, who had planned to push her about changes to the criminal justice system earlier this month at an event in Keene, New Hampshire. Despite the point she was making, Clinton’s great weakness is the manner in which she addresses Black people and her tendency to appear condescending to activists.

From The Root:

“I stand here in your space and I say this as respectfully as I can, ‘If you don’t tell black people what we need to do, then we won’t tell you all what to do,’ ” activist Julius Jones said to her. “What I mean to say is, this is and has always been a white problem of violence. There’s not much that we can do to stop the violence against us.”

“Respectfully,” Clinton answered, “if that is your position, then I will only talk to white people about how we are going to deal with these very real problems.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Jones said. He added, “But what you just said was a form of victim blaming. You were saying what the Black Lives Matter movement needs to do to change white hearts is to … “

In a transcript of her conversation with the activists obtained by NewsOne, Clinton continued:

“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.”

Do you think Clinton was right in her statement? Sound off below…

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NewsOne’s Lynnette Holloway contributed to this report.

Hillary Clinton Faces Off With #BlackLivesMatter Activists  was originally published on newsone.com

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