Hillary Clinton met with the mother of Trayvon Martin, along with the mothers of African American men and women killed by police officers, while in Chicago Monday, just four days after Black Lives Matter protestors were escorted out of African Americans for Hillary event in Atlanta.
The democratic front-runner discussed the prevalence of gun violence and the need for common sense gun reform along with the sense of distrust that exists between law enforcement officers and the communities in which they work, according to a campaign aide. She was in the city for multiple campaign fundraisers during the day she met privately with the mothers.
Among those who participated in the talks include mother of Trayvon Martin, Sabrina Fulton; Samaria Rice, Tamir Rice’s mother; Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown’s mother; Dontre Hamilton’s mother, Maria Hamilton; and mother of Francisco “Frankie” Valencia, Joy McCormack. The deaths of Trayvon Martin and others led to the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has generated a great deal of conversation and controversy in the 2016 primary election cycle.
Clinton listened as each of the mothers told their respective stories of police brutality and loss before declaring “we have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance.”
In her routine campaign speeches, the former secretary of state often mentions the need for criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. Last week she added three elements to her plan to reform the criminal justice system while speaking in Atlanta: ending racial profiling, eliminating the sentencing disparities for crack and powder cocaine and calling for executive action to “ban the box” on job applications, preventing employer’ from asking about a potential prospective employee’s criminal history until after an offer of employment is given.
Last Friday in Atlanta, a group of Black Lives Matter activists yelled and sang throughout Clinton’s speech, until they were formally escorted out by police. Despite this, Clinton consistently polls extremely well among African American voters, and thus far, has continually been the top democratic candidate among minority voters.
