Hillary Clinton is working to right what some might consider her past wrongs.
During last weekend’s Democratic presidential debate, the frontrunner was put in the hot seat when CNN’s Don Lemon, citing her support for the 1994 Crime Bill that resulted in disproportionate mass incarceration rates among Black men, asked her why African-Americans should trust her.
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“[Bill Clinton] said at the NAACP that there were some aspects that worked well,” she said. “The violence against women provisions have worked well, for example. But other aspects of it were a mistake, and I agree. That’s why I’m focused and have a very comprehensive approach toward fixing the criminal justice system, going after systemic racism that stalks the criminal justice system, ending private prisons, ending the incarceration of low-level offenders, and I am committed to doing that.”
Last year, Clinton stopped short of denouncing her support for the bill, but she did agree that something was wrong when Black men are charged with crimes at higher rates than their White counterparts.
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During yesterday’s debate, she laid out a plan to combat the inequality and ending mass incarceration.
“…I believe absolutely that too many families were broken up, too many communities were adversely affected,” she said. “On the criminal justice side, look, we’ve got to have better policing. That means body cameras, that means ending profiling, that means doing everything we can to make sure there’s respect between the community and the police.”