Williams’s short-lived protest probably would have faded into the large and voluminous annals of unrecorded campaign trail “hecklers” if this weren’t the age of the cellphone video camera and a whole host of people who seem almost constantly prepared to point, shoot and share. Williams was, after all, ultimately removed by the Secret Service.

But alas, the video is out there. People are talking and writing about it. And on Thursday, Clinton decided to offer an apology for using the “super-predator” and “brought to heel” language that at the time was part of a relatively popular but now largely discredited theory about rising youth crime.

However, were it not for Williams and that homemade black-and-white sign, the rather vast gap between what Clinton says today about the criminal justice system and the content and aims of Clinton’s lobbying efforts in the 1990s probably would not get much attention outside of a few long pieces reviewing Clinton’s record.