Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke at BET’s Black Girls Rock! award ceremony last night [Friday, April 1] and as always, folks took to Twitter to express their feedback.
According to the Associated Press, the Newark, N.J. event, which airs at 8 p.m. EST on Tuesday, April 5 honored numerous deserving African-American women, including Rihanna and Shonda Rhimes,
Clinton was welcomed with cheers when she called Black women “change makers and path makers and ground shakers” as she introduced DJ Beverly Bond, who founded Black Girls Rock! in 2006.
“There are still a lot of barriers holding back African Americans and Black women in particular, so a gathering like this filled with so many powerful, strong women is a rebuke to every single one of those barriers,” Clinton said. “All of our kids, no matter what zip code they live in, deserve a good teacher and a good school, a safe community and clean water to drink.”
Apparently “Black Twitter” wasn’t buying Clinton’s display of solidarity with the community.
https://twitter.com/onefishtwobitch/status/716298983304531968
So, Hilary Clinton was at Black Girls Rock last night huh? pic.twitter.com/9GbxIsJwHF
— wine pon u (@heartofscandal) April 2, 2016
Is anyone else else not caring to see Hilary Clinton at Black Girls Rock?!?! pic.twitter.com/WoxEtHJs3R
— GOODLOOKNOUT (@GoodLooknOut_) April 2, 2016
[OMG] You'll Never Guess Who Showed Up To Black Girls Rock?! …it was Hilary Clinton
Please don't fall for the hype of this lady.
— Mindful_Addiction
(@MindfulAddxtion) April 2, 2016
Hillary is speaking at Black Girls Rock….The pandering is off the charts. pic.twitter.com/HO8YX7IxDi
— hurricane tammy (@tameriick) April 2, 2016
The criticism stems in part from Clinton’s 1996 comments about at-risk, inner city youth, where she said, “We have to bring them to heel,” calling them “super-predators,” and snapping at a protester who called her out on those comments.
A less controversial honoree of the event also took the stage to share her admiration of Black women and women of color. According to the AP, Rihanna gave a heart warming speech, saying “Thank you so much for celebrating us in a world that doesn’t celebrate us enough.
“The minute you learn to love yourself you will not want to be anybody else,” Rih Rih continued. “Role model is not the title they like to give me … (but) I think I can inspire a lot of young women to be themselves and that is half the battle.”
Thanking her mother and grandmother for being strong Black women, Rihanna ended her speech by saying, “Hopefully one day I’ll be raising my own little Black girl who rocks.”