On "superpredators" and welfare reform and gangs --
Yes, context for Hillary Clinton's words are INDEED needed to fully understand them.
So let's take a ride on the Way-Back Machine to remember what exactly was going on in the country in the years before and during those statements.
The LA Crips and Bloods gang wars had been HUGE national news, as were the beginnings of the east coast west coast hip hop rivalry that involved violence. N.W.A. had sung "Fuck Tha Police". Sister Soulja had been rebuked by Bill Clinton. 2 Live Krew had gotten arrested in Florida on "obscenity" charges. Hip hop and rap were rising in American culture and it SCARED THE SHIT out of older white America. The crack epidemic had happened. Rodney King had the shit beaten out of him and the LA riots were seen live on national TV. "The Bell Curve" had been released, claiming blacks were intellectually inferior to whites. Limbaugh was on the radio saying the most hideous and inflammatory things about black Americans -- especially those on welfare (which all blacks WERE, you know 
), fueling rising white fears.
So, for those of us there and listening, we knew exactly who "super-predator" and gangs and welfare reform were referring to and aimed at.
It sure as SHIT wasn't referring to towheaded white boys and it was aimed squarely at scared white people.