Hillary Clinton spoke at the annual conference of the NAACP in Cincinnati, Ohio today, July 18. Meanwhile, the Republican Party prepared for the start of their convention in Cleveland. The Republican nominee, Donald Trump (R-NY), declined an invitation to speak before the conference of civil rights leaders.
During the half hour long speech of assembled civil rights leaders, Mrs. Clinton focused on a theme of unity and action towards healing divides, that while improved, still plague the nation.
Early in the speech, Clinton addressed the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, the police officers massacred in Dallas, and the latest shooting of officers in Baton Rouge. After listing the tragedies, Mrs. Clinton said:
“This madness has to stop.”
The arena erupted in applause after the remark. The former Secretary of State went on to discuss the need for dialogue, unity, and action among all races and groups, be them black, white, police, or politicians. She said:
“We have difficult, painful, essential work ahead of us to repair the bonds between police officers and communities; and between and among each other. We need one another.”
The Secretary railed against the violent action and rhetoric focused on police, making a strong point to denounce the killing of police officers as abhorrent and a threat to the lawful foundation of the nation. She said:
“We need police officers to help us make progress. These murders threaten all of that. Killing police officers is a terrible crime … [ Police officers ] represent the Rule of Law itself. If you take aim at that or them, you take aim at all of us.”
Clinton stated that she would bring the “full weight of the law” on those that would attack police or aide those that do. Furthermore, she continued by addressing the need to help make policing more accountable, saying that she would make this, along with “common sense gun reform,” a “priority” after winning the presidency.
Attacking conservatives who have said they want to protect police officers, Clinton made an emphatic call to eradicate military style weapons from public availability:
“… people who should be committed to protecting police officers should be committed to getting assault weapons off our streets, to start with!”
The former Secretary of State did not miss an opportunity to point out that her opponent turned down an invitation to speak at the same NAACP convention in Cincinnati.
Early in the address, Clinton reminded her audience:
“We all know about that other convention happening up in Cleveland today. Now, my opponent in this race may have a different view, but there is nowhere I’d rather be than right here with all of you”
Secretary Clinton also spoke on the issue of “white privilege” and the need for more than empty words, but rather true empathy and action. She used the point to drive home the message that in difficult times the country needs, as she put it:
“… a President that will help pull us together, not split us apart.”
She continued on the theme by saying that Donald Trump would do the “exact opposite”. Following up on her previous remarks regarding the absence of Trump at the NAACP convention, Clinton said:
“.. he might say otherwise, if he were here; but of course he declined your invitation. So all we can go on is what he has said and done in the past.”
The Secretary launched a full scale attack on Trump noting his involvement in the birther debate of President Obama, his pandering of the white supremacist voter block, insults on immigrants and women, and assaults on the Muslim religion.
Perhaps the strongest point Mrs. Clinton made, in her flurry of rebukes of Donald Trump, came during her comments regarding Trump’s involvement of “color coding” apartment rental applications in New York City in 1973. She noted that:
” … the Justice Department went after him for refusing to rent his apartments to African Americans. IT was one of the largest federal cases of its kind at the time.”
She tied up the package of remarks simply by saying it all “added up” to one thing:
“Donald Trump cannot become President of the United States!”
The audience erupted in loud applause and organ music from the chorus.
The entire duration of the Secretary’s remarks was thirty-two minutes. She ended by noting the theme of the conference – “Our Lives Matter. Our Votes Count.”
Clinton explained to the audience that her campaign had launched a massive voter registration effort in Ohio and that her people were “hiring” organizers.
You can see here entire remarks at the NAACP event in Cincinnati here:
