A powerful moment took place on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, as the mothers of black people killed either by police or due to gun violence took the stage.
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As the Times notes, although Black Lives Matter has not officially endorsed a presidential candidate, the mothers are among the movement’s best-known names.
But by talking about their interactions with Clinton, the mothers also humanized a woman who would be perhaps the most unpopular major-party nominee in American history were it not for her Republican opponent, real estate mogul Donald Trump. “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son”, she said. “Thank God Tim Kaine, got the job over me, that was maybe her first brilliant decision”, the actor said.
Clinton advised the mothers to unify: “Well, I think you can continue to speak out, but you will be more effective if you do somehow band together, so that it’s a constant drumbeat”.
But Shandre Delaney, a 57-year-old protester from Pittsburgh, said she was more interested in hearing about Hillary Clinton’s policy proposals to demilitarize police departments and end mass incarceration. Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, wrapped up the speeches, telling the convention that Clinton has the compassion to support grieving mothers and will support “commonsense” gun legislation.
Lucia McBath is the mother of Jordan Davis, who was shot and killed an arguement of over loud music in November 2012 in Jacksonville. They’re being played by Hillary and the cynical sharp tongued operatives of the black political class, and they speak for themselves and their handlers, not for the movement. “I even warned him that because he was a young black man, he would meet people who didn’t value his life”. And we’re asking – and we are also going to keep using our voices and our votes to support leaders like Hillary Clinton, who will help us protect one another, so that this club of heartbroken mothers stops growing.
Notably absent was Samaria Rice, the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed by a police officer while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park.
I lived in fear my son would die like this.
She went off script and started with a prayer.
Reed-Val, McBath and Fulton spoke to the crowd and said they will not allow their children’s deaths to be without meaning.
I am a unwilling participant in this movement. “I would not have signed up for this”. “I’m here today for my son, Trayvon Martin, who’s in heaven”. I did not want this spotlight but I will do everything I can to focus some of that light on a path out of this darkness.
This isn’t about being politically correct.
At the Democratic Convention on Tuesday night, Clinton’s team made sure that the women were joined on the schedule by other speakers who could emphasize that reducing killings of people of color was the cause of reformers in and out of office and on both sides of the badge.
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“We are not standing here because He’s not good, we are standing here because He’s great”.
