Hillary Rodham Clinton is currently the front-runner for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, and she should be according to a good percentage of the American people. Secretary Clinton has won each of the first four Democratic Primary elections in the states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. And according to this Wall Street Journal poll, she is projected to win three more states on Super Tuesday. But she does have an Achilles heel: too many Americans feel that she is untrustworthy. This is especially true among young people, a demographic among which she is incurring a low percentage of votes compared to her competitor, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Older generations feel that this suspicion is unfounded given Clinton’s extensive political experience and substantial record in Washington. Former Secretary Clinton's actions at a private campaign event in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday night lead several voters to trend the hashtag #WhichHillary, questioning her duplicitous stances on several issues.

So in response to these arguments, I am offering five reasons why this millennial is hesitant to trust the former First Lady.

1. Her Opinions on Criminal Justice: When I saw Secretary Clinton speak at Clark Atlanta University last semester, one the the major talking points of her speech was criminal justice reform. She vehemently renounced the school-to-prison pipeline that has entangled so many young black men in the vicious, nearly inescapable cycle of recidivism and unemployment that results from incarceration. But many criminal justice advocates have identified her husband, then President Bill Clinton’s Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act as one of the key catalysts that sparked the discriminatory judicial treatment of African Americans. The issue is not necessarily that she advocated for the bill, as many democratic Senators, including Bernie Sanders, did at the time. The problem lies, rather, in her characterization of the young black men in a speech she gave in support of the legislation in 1996. She said, “They are often the kinds of kids that are called super-predators. No conscience, no empathy.” Obviously, no reasonable individual would deny that criminals need to be appropriately apprehended, but her description of black gang members as “super-predators” perpetuates the racist stereotype that portrays African Americans as inherently more violent, volatile, and dangerous than their white counterparts.
2. Smear Tactics: Secretary Clinton has repeatedly renounced Donald Trump’s xenophobic, racist, fear-mongering tactics as being hateful and against fundamental American values. However, her campaign wasn’t above using some of these same devices in the Democratic Primary against upstart candidate Barack Obama in 2008. This Guardian article discusses the details of her campaign’s release of a picture of the then Senator in African dress, feeding into conservative claims that he was a Muslim. She also repeatedly accused Obama of running off of his race, though many would argue that she is now using the same tactics to promote herself as “the first woman president,” and encouraging women to vote for her on that pretense.
3. Giving Speeches for/Accepting Money from Big Banks: In one of the first Democratic debates, Bernie Sanders attacked Clinton’s record of receiving a sizeable amount of her campaign funding form big banking conglomerates. Clinton unsuccessfully defected the question, even trying to explain this questionable connection by referencing 9/11 as a reason for banks to be so generous in their giving. Not only does Clinton’s campaign haul in a significant amount of money from these corporations, but she has also lined her own pockets with their cash by making speeches for these banks. This Politico piece provides more insight into these appearances, for which she has received hundreds of thousands of dollars. These actions are highly contradictory to her claims that she will reform Wall Street and break up the big banks, whose failures and immorality nearly tanked the economy just a few years ago.
4. Her Views on Deporting Child Refugees: Several of Clinton’s advertisements have depicted her bonding with children, consoling them and promising to alleviate the burdens that no child should have to struggle to bear. But as recently as August, Secretary Clinton seemed to have a different opinion, advocating for the expedited deportation of child refugees flooding in from poor Central American countries. This Huffington Post article details several instances of Clinton saying that these children should be removed from the temporary government detention centers and sent back to their home countries. Additionally, it does note that Clinton has taken a more liberal stance since announcing her presidential candidacy, further proving her precarious stance on this issue.
5. Her Handling of the Black Lives Matter Movement: In the most recent example of Clinton’s duplicitous political persona, the Secretary had Ashley Williams, a protestor who questioned her previous “super-predator,” comments, and demanding an apology for the offensive statements. Instead of listening to Williams claims and addressing the issues, Clinton dismissed her, having her Secret Service team remove the young woman from the private event for which she paid $500 to gain entrance. She also condescendingly remarked that she was glad to return to speaking about "the issues that [she] think[s] are important." In stark contrast, when Bernie Sanders was interrupted by Black Lives Matter protestors, he graciously deferred, allowing the young women to use his platform to voice their grievances. You can read more about Williams’ experience and her opinions on Clinton’s response here. This meme more succinctly describes the issue with this line of action than any long, drawn out think piece ever could.

Now I know that there is no politician in history who has never lied, changed their policies when convenient, or used underhanded tactics to get ahead. Such is the nature of the American political arena. But a few of these issues are a bit too glaring for me to ignore. I’m not saying that Hillary isn’t a good Presidential candidate, a good politician, or even a good person, because she has proven herself to be all of these things. I do think, however, that it is important to highlight both a candidate’s strengths and shortcomings, in order to ensure that we are electing a public servant that is truly listening to the voice of the people.