Black Lives Matter organizer and protester DeRay McKesson took to Twitter to voice his discontent with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s policies on criminal-justice reform and bringing her husband, former President Bill Clinton, out on the campaign trail.
“Bill Clinton is a master politician, he gets the game. But unless he’s rolling out the rest of Hillary’s policy platform, I’m not with it,” Mr. McKesson tweeted Tuesday morning.
Replying to a tweet that Mrs. Clinton’s criminal-justice reform policy is “basically the same” as that of her nearest rival, Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Mr. McKesson said: “No, they’re not ’basically the same.’ Hillary is silent on community oversight, supports the death penalty, etc.”
Mr. McKesson openly questioned Mrs. Clinton on her policy, including increased funding for the Department of Justice: “What is your position re: increased authority for the DOJ re: investigations?” he tweeted.
In October, Mr. McKesson and other activists in the Black Lives Matter movement met with Mrs. Clinton to push police reform. Afterwards, Mrs. Clinton called Mr. McKesson, who has 234,000 Twitter followers, a “social media emperor,” The Baltimore Sun reported.
After the meeting, Mr. McKesson tweeted: “We pushed @HillaryClinton to de-center the police as the key to the safety in communities. And, in the end, I think she heard us. … And we pushed @HillaryClinton re: using less coded language and talking more plainly & clearly about issues related to blackness.”
Mr. McKesson has also met with Mr. Sanders and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley.
• Kelly Riddell can be reached at kriddell@washingtontimes.com.
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