NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) – Hillary Rodham Clinton soaked in standing ovations and weathered protesters over a day of campaigning intended to solidify her advantages in the African-American community and highlight criminal justice and economic policies that she says will treat blacks more fairly.
The Democratic presidential favorite watched silently Friday evening at an NAACP banquet in South Carolina as family members of “The Emanuel 9” took part in a memorial for nine people slain in June by a white gunman during a Bible study a historic black church in Charleston.
“People in this room … have shown grace and resilience,” Clinton said later, during remarks that drew multiple rounds of applause. She added that the city has inspired Americans she said often “don’t know what to do about that kind of hate and violence stalking our land.”
Clinton framed the Emanuel slayings and the April killing of Walter Scott, a black man shot by a North Charleston police officer who has since been fired and charged with murder, as part of a trend. “The last few years have shone a bright light on the systemic effects of racism and injustice,” she said.
The answers, she said, include overhauling the U.S. criminal justice system, tightening gun regulations and expanding economic and educational opportunities in communities held back by generations of institutionalized racism.