Clinton Weighs In on Police Encounters with Black Men

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate for president, set herself apart from the pack of Republicans vying for their party's nomination by speaking explicitly Wednesday about the violence that erupted n Baltimore after a black man died in police custody., and about income disparities in America.

In a speech at Columbia University, Clinton said the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal-cord injury while in police custody, broke her heart. She also spoke candidly, in a tone that conveyed the heaviness of the national frustration over police relations with the black community, and the deaths of several black men.

She said as a mother and grandmother she felt for the surviving family members of the men killed. She told several of their stories.

“Walter Scott, shot in the back in Charleston South Carolina - unarmed, in debt, terrified of spending more time in jail for child support payments he couldn’t afford,” Clinton said. “Tamir Rice - shot in a park in Cleveland Ohio, unarmed. Eric Garner, choked to death after being stopped for selling cigarettes on the streets of our city. And now, Freddie Gray, his spine nearly severed while in police custody.”

Clinton called for ending mass incarceration, and offering help to people suffering from mental health issues. She also called for every police department in the country to use body cameras — a move she said would protect both civilians and police.