Clinton calls for unity after week of deadly shootings

Hillary Clinton sought to soothe anxieties and inspire unity in a speech she delivered to a historically black church Friday, encouraging listeners to continue challenging systematic racism that makes African-Americans more likely to be killed by police.

{mosads}In an address at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia Friday, Clinton laid off the attacks on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and focused on how she would address violence between police officers and their communities if elected president.

“There is too much violence. Too much hate. Too much senseless killing. Too many people dead who shouldn’t be,” Clinton said. “We know there is too little trust in too many places between police and the communities they are sworn to protect. With so little common ground it can feel impossible to have the conversations we need to have to begin fixing what’s broken.” 

Clinton’s comments come after a week full of violence that left two black men dead in officer-involved shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana. Protests against their deaths in Dallas took a tragic turn Thursday when a sniper killed five law enforcement officials and wounded several others. 

Clinton said the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile are just the latest in a “long and painful list” of African-Americans killed in police confrontations — 123 so far this year, she noted. 

She pledged that, if elected, she would commit $1 billion to training programs for police officers that focus on deescalation and other best practices. 

“I want you to know when the 24 hour news cycle moves on, I won’t,” Clinton said. “This is so important to who we are and what kind of nation we are making for our children and grandchildren.” 

Clinton also encouraged respect toward the nation’s police officers in the light of the Dallas shooting. 

“We cannot and we must not vilify police officers. Remember what those police officers were doing when they died. They were protecting a peaceful march. They were people in authority making sure their fellow citizens had the right to protest authority,” Clinton said. 

But change will require effort from “all of us,” Clinton said, including police officers. 

“We do need police and criminal justice reforms to save lives and to make sure all Americans are treated equally,” Clinton said.