But Clinton was eager to talk about race.

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For the last 10 days, the nation has been traumatized by the videos of killings of two African American men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota and the murderous ambush of Dallas police officers that left five dead and nine wounded. The fear and anger unleashed by all three horrific events demand something more from our leaders. We need them to comfort us as much as we need them to explain how we’ll get through it.

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The remarks of President Obama and former president George W. Bush in Dallas on Tuesday were masterful in this regard. But this is a quintessential test of leadership for the two candidates hoping to follow in their footsteps. Discussing the swirl of criminal justice, gun control and race these killings raise is fraught with political risk. Trump opted to side with the view that the Black Lives Matter movement is “inherently racist.” Clinton has chosen to engage in the messy, difficult conversation all these issues present head-on with a maturity and nuance that is desperately needed in a crisis.

“We need criminal justice reform. Too many black families are mourning the loss of a loved one at the hands of police,” Clinton told me. “We need to support our police, particularly in departments like the one in Dallas that has been reforming itself and stand up for the men and women who protect us, giving them the resources and training they need to do their jobs. And we need to reduce gun violence across America. I think we have to do all of these things at once.

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“We need to face up to these challenges and fix them in order to become a stronger fairer, country,” she said. “And we need, therefore, in my opinion, a president who can help pull us together, not tear us apart.”

Clinton has been talking about how to “pull us together” on the campaign trail consistently since February. Her knowing, empathetic message that attracted African American voters during the primaries has remained consistent. But her words have gained more power and urgency in the wake of the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police and the murders of Lorne Ahrens, Michael J. Smith, Michael Krol, Patrick Zamarripa and Brent Thompson in Dallas.

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During a speech at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem on Feb. 16, Clinton did something no white politician running for president had ever done to my memory: talked about the responsibility white Americans had in bridging racial divides. “White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers that you face every day,” the former New York Senator told the mostly African American audience. “We need to recognize our privilege and practice humility, rather than assume that our experiences are everyone’s experiences.”

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In the midst of national grief, when both sides of the criminal justice debate felt justifiably aggrieved, Clinton repeated that call to empathy in an even more powerful address to the African Methodist Episcopal Church National Convention in Philadelphia last Friday.

Ending the systemic racism that plagues our country – and rebuilding our communities where the police and citizens all see themselves as being on the same side – will require contributions from all of us. White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk – talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day. We need to try, as best we can, to walk in one another’s shoes – to imagine what it would be like if people followed us around stores, or locked their car doors when we walked past. Or if every time our children went to play in the park, or went for a ride, or just to the store to buy iced tea and Skittles, we said a prayer –‘Please, God – please, God – don’t let anything happen to my baby.’ And let’s put ourselves in the shoes of police officers, kissing their kids and spouses goodbye every day and heading off to a dangerous job we need them to do. When gunfire broke out yesterday night, and everyone ran to safety, the police officers ran the other way – into the gunfire. That’s the kind of courage our police and first responders show every single day somewhere across America.

Clinton returned to these themes on Wednesday, in Springfield, Ill., in an effort to show that all of the concerns roiled by the bloody events of last week are valid.

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“Now I understand that just saying these things together may upset some people. I’m talking about police reform just a few days after a horrific attack on police officers. I’m talking about courageous, honorable police officers just a few days after officer-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. I’m bringing up guns in a country where just talking about comprehensive background checks and getting assault weapons off our streets gets you demonized,” she said then. “But all these things can be true at the same time.”

And it was in that Springfield speech that Clinton launched into a withering critique of her Republican opponent’s divisive rhetoric. A harsh assessment she continued by phone with me on Thursday.

“Pitting people against one another, stoking mistrust. Everything he says, everything he promises to do as president would drive even further divisive barriers between us,” she said. When I asked her why she thought he was doing this, Clinton replied, “I don’t know. As I say, I can’t look in the man’s heart.” But she then rattled off the well-known list of Trump’s offenses, from advocating mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and a ban on Muslims entering the country to “encouraging violence towards protesters.”

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Citing Maya Angelou’s famous quote, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them,” Clinton said of Trump, “I have to believe that is what he believes.” She added, “That is who he has presented himself to be and it is troubling. And, frankly, frightening that someone running for president of the United States wants to sow such discord and divisiveness.”

One of the things that worries me is the possibility that we are one shooting of a police officer or an unarmed African American away from societal chaos. I asked Clinton if she shared that fear.

“I really believe that the restraint and the dignity and discipline we have seen is incredibly moving. I remind my audiences that the officers in Dallas were protecting the peace right to protest when they were shot down,” she said. “We have to change laws and attitudes. We will be more successful in bringing about those changes if we listen respectfully to each other and we work toward a consensus about police reform, about protecting our police, about taking on gun violence.

“I continue to believe, certainly hope, that that will be the overwhelming reaction. And I also hope, with all my heart, we don’t face this again.” When we do face this again, because we will, only one presidential candidate has shown the ability to lead the nation through such trauma. And it’s not Trump.