Five black women whose children were slain in encounters with law enforcement are praising Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton in a new ad.
“She has a heart to serve,” says Sybrina Fulton, whose son, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed in 2012 after a fight with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Florida.
“I just feel like she’s a person who’s concerned about the needs of all people,” agrees Geneva Reed-Veal, whose daughter, Sandra Bland, apparently committed suicide in a jail cell after being pulled over for a traffic stop in Texas.
Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died in New York two years ago after being put into an illegal chokehold by a New York Police Department officer, said in the ad: “She’s been fighting for a long time on these issues.”
The ad also features Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, who was shot and killed at a Jacksonville, Fla., gas station four years ago after an argument over playing loud music in his car.
The mother of Dontre Hamilton, who was shot by a Milwaukee police officer in 2014, also appears in the video to throw her support behind Clinton. Roughly two-and-half minutes into the ad, Clinton appears, praying with some of the mothers.
“The stakes are too high, the costs are too dear, and I am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for common sense reforms, and, along with you, achieve those on behalf of all those who have been lost,” Clinton says.
The black vote has been one fought over by Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders, though Clinton has been the beneficiary of it so far, especially in southern states.
