While speaking at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) convention on Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said it’s time to “face the reality of systemic racism,” which includes “putting a stop to the horror of young African Americans being killed by police or dying in police custody.”
During her speech, Clinton said, “If we are serious about doing all of this and supporting families, we have to also be serious about facing up to the reality of systemic racism. And that means dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline once and for all.”
“We have a moral obligation to fight for justice and equity everywhere, and that includes ending the era of mass incarceration, rebuilding the trust between law enforcement and communities, and putting a stop to the horror of young African Americans being killed by police or dying in police custody,” she continued.
“We owe that to our children and we owe it to the parents whose children have been so tragically taken from them. It’s why I’m proud that SEIU members across the country are standing up for criminal justice reform and calling for environmental and economic justice for every community,” Clinton said.
Coincidentally -- or perhaps not so coincidentally -- Clinton’s remark about “the horror of young African Americans being killed by police or dying in police custody” comes just hours after Edward Nero, one of the police officers involved in the arrest and ultimate death of Freddie Gray in 2014, was found not guilty on all charges.
Nero was one of the six officers charged in relation to Gray’s death. Prosecutors claim Gray, a black man, reportedly suffered spinal injuries while in the back of a police van and later succumbed to his injuries.
The trial of another officer charged in the case, William Porter, ended in a mistrial last December.
Also coincidentally, a “Black Lives Matter” sign was held directly in front of Clinton while she was giving her speech.