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These BLM Activists Called Out Jeff Sessions

by Charlie Beckerman
MOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images

One of the most high-profile hearings for incoming President Donald Trump’s Cabinet got underway Tuesday, with Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions before he goes up for confirmation to become the nation’s next attorney general and head of the Justice Department. While many were watching the hearing, some of the most salient and tough observations about Sessions’ controversial past came from Black Lives Matter activists on Twitter.

Sessions was the first senator to endorse Donald Trump during the primary, coming out for the businessman and celebrity entrepreneur in February. After Trump won the election in November, Sessions was one of his first Cabinet appointments, despite the fact that Sessions had been rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986 for a federal bench appointment.

Among the skeletons in Sessions’ closet are controversial actions he took when he was the U.S. Attorney Alabama, which led to his failed nomination. These included a comment he reportedly made while investigating the 1983 lynching of a black teenager, saying that he “used to respect” the Ku Klux Klan, “but if they smoke pot, I sure can’t [respect them]”.

Here is just a sample of some of the reactions from Black Lives Matter activists on Twitter.

Holding Sessions Accountable

Even if the Senate was being easy on Sessions, these activists weren't going to be.

But Also Holding The Senate Questioners Accountable

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-SC, asked Sessions about how being labeled as a racist “made [him] feel?”

And Reminded People That A Lot Of This Hearing Was For Show

And Activists Encouraged Their Followers To Take Action

Activists Were Skeptical About His Statements

And Mindful Of His Roots

He is a good ol’ boy of the first order.

The Wider Context Of Racial History

And that is the hardest, but most crucial task we face.