Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says in a new episode of her podcast that she views “Black Lives Matter,” the rallying cry used by thousands of protesters demanding changes in the way Black Americans are treated by police, as a “theological” statement.
In the episode released Tuesday featuring a conversation between Clinton and the Rev. William J. Barber, a supporter of the “Black Lives Matter” movement and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, Clinton explained her thoughts on the phrase.
“When you think about the very concerted effort by one specific political party to basically own Christianity … it overlooks the role of the African American church, it overlooks, as you say, a lot of theology, a lot of history, it also overlooks this moment in time,” Clinton said.
” ‘Black Lives Matter,’ I view as, you know, very profoundly a theological statement,” she added.
The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee’s comments come amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racism, which began in late May following the police killing of George Floyd.