Protesters attempted to drown out remarks given by former FBI Director James Comey as he delivered a convocation address at Howard University on Friday.
The protest began as Mr. Comey took to the podium, with a group in the back of the auditorium singing “We Shall Not be Moved” and later chanting slogans including “No justice, no peace.”
Mr. Comey, who has taken on a part-time position this year at the historically black university, initially waited for the protests to subside.
“I hope you will stay and listen to what I have to say,” he said. “I listened to you for five minutes.”
Protesters were angry over some of the actions undertaken by the FBI during Mr. Comey’s time leading the agency, including surveillance of Black Lives Matter protesters.
Mr. Comey, who was fired by President Trump in May, focused much of his speech on the importance of what students can learn and experience during their time at Howard University, saying the school “reminds us that we have been through very tough times and always emerged better and stronger.”
“There is a lot of pain and hurt in this world right now,” Mr. Comey said. “Our country is going through one of those periods, where we’re trying to figure out who are we really and what do we we stand for.”
He said the university provided a safe space, “especially for those who face the opportunity and the challenge of being black in America.”
“The rest of the real world, is place where it is hard sometimes to find people who will listen with an attitude that they might actually be convinced of something,” Mr. Comey said over screams of protesters.
“Instead what happens in most of the real world, about about four rows of this auditorium, is that people don’t listen at all. They just try to figure out what rebuttal they are going to offer when you are done speaking.”
Today, @HUPrez17 sent out the following email making several false claims about the character of James Comey. pic.twitter.com/ZoLTvdbWoj
— #HUResist (@HUResist) September 20, 2017
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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