Hillary Clinton at Black Church in Mo.: ‘All Lives Matter’

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Many in the Twitter universe aren't happy that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared on Tuesday, "All lives matter" during a speech at a black church near Ferguson, Mo. This was just a few miles from where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed, thereby igniting a national movement to combat police brutality against African Americans.

During a campaign stop in Florissant, Mo., Clinton told the mostly black crowd at the Christ the King United Church of Christ that "America's struggles with race are far from finished," according to the Huffington Post.

"We can't hide from hard truths about race and justice," the Democrat added. "We have to name them, own them and change them."

Advertisement

Clinton addressed racial inequality, the Confederate flag and forgiveness, tying her speech into the national conversation on those subjects that's been building since last week's horrific massacre of nine black people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. 

Advertisement

While speaking about lessons she learned from her mother, Clinton said she had asked her, "What kept you going?" Clinton continued, "Her answer was very simple. Kindness along the way from someone who believed she mattered. All lives matter."

Advertisement

That last comment drew the anger of some social media users who were outraged at her twisting of the popular phrase "Black lives matter" that has come to define a movement. 

https://twitter.com/rosaclemente/status/613793625168699392https://twitter.com/borednun/status/613721742197063681https://twitter.com/Jason_Pollock/status/613716886946103297https://twitter.com/deray/status/613678306290966528

Advertisement

According to NPR, some of those in attendance while Clinton delivered her speech were not impressed, either. 

"With her statement that all lives matter, that blew a lot of support that she may have been able to engender here," St. John AME Church Pastor Renita Lamkin told the news source. 

Advertisement

"My children matter," the pastor added. "And I need to hear my president say that the lives of my children matter—that my little black children matter. Because right now our society does not say that they matter. Black lives matter. That's what she needs to say."

Read more at the Huffington Post and NPR