Just off a three-week vacation in the Hamptons, Hillary Clinton used
her first day back on the speaking circuit Thursday to address the
situation in Ferguson,
Missouri, applauding President Obama for his response to the protests
and calling for a nationwide effort to improve racial inequalities that
she said still persist in the American justice system.
“Watching the recent funeral for Michael Brown, as a mother, as a
human being, my heart just broke for his family,” Clinton said during
her prepared remarks at a tech conference in San Francisco.
“Nobody wants to see our streets look like a war zone. Not in
America. We are better than that,” she added, referencing “dramatic,
terrible” pictures she watched on television.
Brown, 18, was killed when a police officer in Ferguson evidently
shot him six times after a confrontation in the street on Aug. 9,
setting off two weeks of protests and clashes with police.
Until today, Clinton was silent on the situation.
“Imagine what we would feel and do if white drivers were three times
more likely to be searched than black drivers … if white offenders
received prison sentences longer than black … if a third of all white
men went to prison during their lifetime. Imagine that,” Clinton told an
audience of Silicon Valley tech employees. “That is the reality of the
lives of so many of our fellow Americans and the communities in which
they live.”
The former secretary of state and likely 2016 presidential candidate
praised Obama for sending Attorney General Eric Holder to Ferguson,
saying it was “necessary” to find out what happened during the shooting
and “see that justice is done.”
Clinton, on vacation most of this month, has faced criticism for her
silence during the unrest, particularly last week when she ignored
questions on the subject from two reporters at a book signing on Long
Island
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