Dems split on whether black lives matter, or all lives matter

Sanders said the United States must combat “institutional racism from top to bottom,” while also calling for major reforms to the nation’s criminal justice system. Sanders also compared the levels of imprisonment in the U.S. to China, saying that nearly 2.2 million people in the nation are in prison, while China, which as four times the population of the U.S. has just over 1.5 million prisoners.

CNN host Anderson Cooper didn’t press the same question when it was former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s turn, and instead let her answer more generally. The country needs “a New New Deal for our communities of color,” she said. “I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn.”

Activist Deray Mckesson, who has been instrumental in getting the presidential candidates to talk about social justice and racial issues, tweeted his approval of Clinton mentioning a “new New Deal,” but noted she did not directly talk about race. Clinton met with Mckesson and other activists recently to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and actions going forward, as Sanders did before her.

Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb answered by saying “every life in this country matters,” though he went on to emphasize he worked on issues pertinent to the black community while he was in the Senate.

“We have undervalued the lives of … people of color,” former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said, saying he’d taken action on many racial issues during his time in office.

Black Lives Matter also saw a spike in Google searches the moment it was mentioned.