Hilary Clinton also called for investments in communities of color, greater funding for HCBUs, and mandatory pre-kindergarten education.
During the nearly 40-minute speech, Clinton was interrupted by a group of Black Lives Matter activists. In response to their singing and chanting, she made it clear that she stands with them by emphatically proclaiming, “Yes, indeed black lives matter. Now, now my friend I am going to get to some very important points that actually prove that Black lives do matter, and we have to take action together.” The activists were shouted down by the crowd and were finally taken backstage by the collaboration of secret service, local uniformed law enforcement, and Hillary supporters in the audience.
Hilary Clinton was joined at the event by Civil Rights icon and US. Congressman John Lewis who introduced her. Lewis told the crowd: “When things get tough, Hillary doesn’t back down. She is a fighter for America’s criminal justice system. She is a fighter for America’s families. And she is a fighter for America’s students.”
Later Friday, she was scheduled to address an NAACP banquet in Charleston, South Carolina. It is the organization’s first annual banquet since the April killing of Walter Scott, a black man shot by a white North Charleston police officer who was later fired and charged with murder, and the June massacre at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where a white gunman killed a pastor and eight others.
“It may be a bit unusual for somebody running for president to say we need more love and kindness, but that’s exactly what I believe,” Clinton said. “We need to be too busy to hate and too loving to ignore, too loving ever to turn our backs on each other and our country.”
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/news-views/hillary-clinton-makes-concerted-effort-to-court-black-voters#ixzz3qAaHR4Uy