Warren was speaking at Dillard University in New Orleans, a historically black college, when she made the comment.

The Philadelphia Tribune reports:

Warren at Black university: Criminal justice system ‘racist’

Speaking Friday at a historically Black university, potential Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren delivered what she called “the hard truth about our criminal justice system: It’s racist … I mean front to back.”

The Massachusetts senator identified some of the system’s failures: disproportionate arrests of African-Americans for petty drug possession; an overloaded public defender system; and state laws that keep convicted felons from voting even after their sentences are complete.

Warren was participating in a Q&A session hosted by Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond at the historically Black Dillard University in New Orleans.

She was among several possible Democratic White House contenders who spoke Friday at Netroots Nation, an annual conference for progressives. She was the only leading Democrat to appear at Dillard.

The stop is the latest sign of Warren’s effort to forge ties beyond her largely white political base in Massachusetts and avoid the fate of fellow progressive icon Bernie Sanders, who struggled to win over African-Americans during his failed bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Warren has previously addressed the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton’s annual civil rights gathering. She visited Martin Luther King Jr.’s Atlanta church last year for a program alongside the Rev. Bernice King, the slain civil rights leader’s youngest daughter.

Facing re-election to the Senate this year, Warren did not directly address her 2020 plans. But when Richmond asked her what might have changed since she decided not to run in 2016, the senator was ready.