Republicans and Democrats may share different political ideologies, but their views on the Black Lives Matter movement overlapped on occasion. Take the 2016 presidential candidates. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio both criticized activists in the movement for not identifying clear goals on which politicians could act. Additionally, Ben Carson and former Maryland Gov.


Martin O’Malley declared that not just “black lives” but “all lives matter.” The difference is that O’Malley eventually apologized for this declaration, which activists argue ignores how the criminal justice system has historically and currently targeted African Americans.

O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a fellow Democrat, both made news headlines after Black Lives Matter activists disrupted events featuring the politicians. Sanders and O’Malley responded to the movement leaders’ concerns by devising racial justice platforms that address police accountability, voting rights and economic inequality. Clinton failed to follow suit but did not deny the realities of racism in her campaign speeches. Learn more about how the 2016 Democratic presidential candidates responded to Black Lives Matter with this overview.

Multi-Pronged Anti-Violence Plan

Bernie Sanders developed a detailed plan to eradicate economic, legal, political and physical violence in August 2015. The fourfold platform address racial injustice in a number of ways.

The plan calls for tuition-free higher education, a $5.5 million federally-funded youth employment program to counter high unemployment rates among youth of color and federal legislation to mandate pay equity for women, especially since black women earn 64 cents for every dollar white men earn. Sanders also wants to end racial disparities in sentencing and to boost investments in drug courts as well as for mental health interventions for people with drug and alcohol habits. His plan calls for various voting rights protections and more police accountability.

“It is an outrage that in these early years of the 21st century we are seeing intolerable acts of violence being perpetuated by police, and racist terrorism by white supremacists,” he states on his website. “…Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police sworn to protect and serve our communities, is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. We need a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter, and racism cannot be accepted in a civilized country.”

Accordingly, Sanders would like to see investments in community policing, more diverse police forces, a federal model police training program, body cameras for police officers and heightened transparency from law enforcement agencies about police shootings.

A Detailed Criminal Justice Reform Plan

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley developed an intricate criminal justice reform plan in response to the concerns raised by Black Lives Matter activists.

“America’s criminal justice system is badly in need of reform. For too long our justice system has reinforced our country’s cruel history of racism and economic inequality—remaining disconnected from our founding ideals of life, liberty, and equal treatment under the law,” he stated on his website.

He then outlined his plans to have the FBI collect data on police-related shootings, to establish a national use of force standard, independent police misconduct investigations, the reclassification of marijuana as a Schedule II drug, a repeal of the death penalty and stronger civil rights protections.

“Under the Obama Administration, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has successfully launched investigations into the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown,” O’Malley’s website states. “However, the Department’s ability to prosecute cases is limited because federal officials must meet a very high legal standard to bring civil rights charges. O’Malley would call on Congress to revise this standard so that the federal government can act as an effective backstop for ensuring justice.”

Like Sanders, O’Malley also supports the closure of federal for-profit prisons, police body cameras and the restoration of voting rights for convicted felons. He backs federal guidelines outlining appropriate police response to people in crisis because of mental health or substance abuse issues.

O’Malley stepped beyond the criminal justice system to point out his plan to end racial disparities in school discipline.

“Federal law already prohibits public school districts from administering student discipline in a discriminatory way,” his website states. “The Departments of Education and Justice put forward guidance last year to help schools identify, avoid, and remedy discriminatory discipline, so that all schools ensure equal educational opportunities for all students. O’Malley will enforce this guidance by bringing federal investigations or charges when necessary, and call to codify the guidance into law.”

No Racial Justice Policy for Clinton

Hillary Clinton does not stand out from her Republican rivals as far as Black Lives Matter goes. Like Marco Rubio and Donald Trump did in 2015, Clinton acknowledged that racism remains an issue in U.S. society. However, she failed to adopt a formal policy to counter racial injustice, as Sanders and O’Malley did.

Speaking to Black Lives Matter activists in August 2015, Clinton said, “Your analysis is totally fair. It’s historically fair. It’s psychologically fair. It’s economically fair. But you’re going to have to come together as a movement and say, ‘Here’s what we want done about it.’”

Clinton also told the activists that her hands were essentially tied because politicians create change by having something to sell people, but she implied that Black Lives Matter leaders had failed to give her any thing to sell.

“—In politics, if you can’t explain it and you can’t sell it, it stays on its shelf,” she said.

Clinton told the movement leaders that they needed to focus on changing laws and how resources are allocated. She also declined to say that some of the policies of husband and former president Bill Clinton were racist, as Black Lives Matter leaders characterized them.

“I do think that a lot of what was tried and how it was implemented has not produced the kinds of outcomes that any of us would want,” she said. “But I also believe that there are systemic issues of race and justice that go deeper than any particular law.”

The fact that Clinton didn’t agree with the Black Lives Matter activists on everything didn’t preclude her from developing a detailed racial justice policy like the other Democrats running for president in 2016 did. This omission gives the impression, intentional or otherwise, that Clinton doesn’t view the Black Lives Matter movement or its concerns seriously. Given this, it’s difficult to see what distinguishes her from Republicans such as Ben Carson or Jeb Bush on the issue of racial justice.