Clinton meets with family members of black victims of violence

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton met with family members of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown during a campaign swing through Chicago on Monday, according to a Clinton aide.

Clinton huddled with several African-American parents whose children have died in shootings. She is pushing for criminal justice reform and new gun control laws.

{mosads}Among those family members, Clinton met with the mother of Martin, the 17-year-old killed in 2012 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted, sparking protests.

Clinton also met with the mothers of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old fatally shot in Ferguson, Mo., last year, and Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old fatally shot in Cleveland, according to the aide. Brown and Rice were shot by police officers.

CNN, which first reported the meeting, said that is also included the family of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African-American high school student who was shot at a gas station in 2012.

Protests over a string of shootings involving African-American men in the past few years, especially following the case of Brown, have evolved into the Black Lives Matter movement, which touches on criminal justice reform. 

Activists from the movement have interrupted Clinton during her presidential campaigning, including during a rally late last week in Atlanta focused on criminal justice reform.

Clinton said Monday that the United States has “allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance.”

Monday’s meeting underscored “the epidemic of gun violence which demands common sense gun reforms” as well as “the sense of distrust that too often exists between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” the Clinton aide said.

“Hillary and the family members discussed the need to deliver real reforms that can be felt on our streets and that can rebuild the bonds of trust in our communities,” the aide said.