Clinton says her heart ‘breaks’ for blacks killed by police

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says her heart “breaks” for the African-American young men being killed by white police officers in the United States, calling for sweeping changes to the country's criminal justice system.

"My heart breaks for these young men and their families," US presidential candidate Clinton said in remarks at Columbia University on Wednesday."We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America."

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the US in recent days to protest the brutal killing of Freddie Gray who died on April 19 in Baltimore after white police officers broke his spine in their custody.

The killing was just one of a succession of fatal police brutalities in recent months.

Large-scale protests were held across the US after a series of high-profile incidents of white police officers killing unarmed African-American men, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio; Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York and Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Clinton said that the black deaths should "galvanize" the people of the United States to fight for change.

She called for comprehensive changes to the US criminal justice system as well as recognition of "hard truths" about race and brutal tactics applied by the US law enforcement agencies across the country.

"Everyone in every community benefits when there is respect for the law and when everyone in every community is respected by the law," she said.

In addition, Clinton said authorities should address not just specifics of criminal justice policy, but primary causes afflicting the US, like economic inequality and the opportunity gap between African-Americans and whites.

"That is a symptom, not a cause of what ails us today," she said of the need for police reforms.

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