Hillary Clinton needs to address the racist undertones of her 2008 campaign

Clinton wasn't exactly a champion of racial justice in her primary battle against Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama in 2008
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Black Lives Matter, the advocacy group for black interests, has gotten the attention of the Democratic presidential candidates, who are reportedly scrambling to reach out to the movement. Even heavy favorite Hillary Clinton is getting in on it, addressing the movement in a Q&A session on Facebook, where she checked most of the right boxes.

DeRay McKesson, one of the movement's leaders, wrote on Twitter that the post was "solid." But he also noted that she had two days to work on it, and did not attend the liberal forum Netroots Nation, unlike her challengers Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, who flailed in front of activists from Black Lives Matter.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.