House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said that she believes "all lives matter" in response to a question Friday about the "Black Lives Matter" movement.
At a town hall that aired Friday night on MSNBC, Pelosi responded to a question from an African American Trinity College student about the Black Lives Matter movement.
"Do you support the Black Lives Matter movement?" the student asked.
"Well, I support the recognition that Black Lives Matter for sure and I have incorporated that in many of my statements," Pelosi said. "I think that all lives matter, yes, but it has—we really have to redress past grievances in terms of how we have addressed the African-American community."
Black Lives Matter activists and many progressives dislike the term "all lives matter" as being dismissive of the racism that blacks experience and the movement overall.
Pelosi participated in the town hall hosted by Joy Reid the same week she took back the Speaker's gavel for the first time since 2011. She already had to deal with one of her new members, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), promising to impeach Trump and calling him a "motherf—er."
Pelosi could face grief from progressives for using the "all lives matter" phrase if some of the Twitter reaction afterward was any indication.
Pelosi saying 'all lives matter" pic.twitter.com/83TBo3MOm7
— Jacques Calonne (@JacquesCalonne) January 5, 2019
#Pelosi not only said, "all lives matter," but gave an unsatisfactory answer when asked if she supports #BLM. #JoyReed #TheSpeaker
— Lorenzo De Janeiro (@memii_social) January 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/DeletrixV/status/1081402543220109314