'SNL' Star Cecily Strong -- Cracks Racist Cops Joke on Obama ... As Baltimore Riots Raged

Cecily Strong went in HARD on President Obama and the Secret Service with an envelope-pushing joke about cops killing black men -- and she did it just miles from the Baltimore riots over that very issue.

Cecily hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday night, and got the biggest reaction from the room when she said the Secret Service is "the only law enforcement agency in the country that will get in trouble if a black man gets shot."

The crowd was still gasping when she unleashed another racially charged follow-up.

Around the same time -- 30 miles outside the Beltway -- the Baltimore riots over Freddie Gray's death in police custody turned so violent police told Orioles fans to stay inside the stadium after the game.

We're guessing Cecily's jokes were written long before Baltimore erupted -- still, it was front page news all day leading up to the WHCD. So, we gotta ask ...