Even as the Republican National Convention is taking place in Cleveland this week, Hillary Clinton is speaking across the state in Cincinnati at an NAACP conference on Monday morning.
In previous years, major candidates have used the NAACP conference setting as a way to address black constituents, and while the organization reached out to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to invite him to speak, Trump declined.
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Clinton spoke today about the need for police to improve their relationships with the communities they serve and expressed sadness over the recent murders of police in Baton Rogue.
“We have difficult, painful, essential work ahead of us to repair the bonds between our police and communities and between and among each other,” said Clinton. “We need one another to do this work and we need leaders like the NAACP.”
“Many African-Americans fear the police. I can hear you. Some of you in this room,” she said. “And today, there are people all across America sick over what happened in Baton Rouge and in Dallas but also fearful that the murders of police officers means that vital questions about police-community relations will go unanswered.”
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“As president, l will bring the full weight of the law to bear and making sure those who kill police officers are brought to justice,” Clinton said. “And let’s admit it, there is clear evidence that African-Americans are disproportionately killed in police incidents compared to any other group. And African-American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men convicted of the same offenses. These facts tell us something is profoundly wrong. We can’t ignore that, we can’t wish it away.”
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Clinton took a dig at GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump as the RNC got underway in Cleveland.
“We all know about that other convention happening up in Cleveland today,” she said. “My opponent in this race might have a different view, but there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here with all of you.”
