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While other high-profile politicians who claim left-leaning allegiances have fallen short, in one way or another, of speaking effectively about or to the Black Lives Matter movement and the issues that have shaped it in recent months, Sen. Elizabeth Warren broke from that pack Sunday.

In a wide-ranging speech about the persistence of racial inequality in the U.S. and the current status of that relentless and multifaceted problem, Warren made her endorsement of Black Lives Matter clear (via The Washington Post):

“None of us can ignore what is happening in this country. Not when our black friends, family, neighbors literally fear dying in the streets.” Warren said. “This is the reality all of us must confront, as uncomfortable and ugly as that reality may be. It comes to us to once again affirm that black lives matter, that black citizens matter, that black families matter.”

In the address, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post prior to her delivery, Warren draws direct parallels between the civil rights movement and the current anti-police-brutality movement, and it sought to link issues on economic inequality with systemic racism. She traces racial economic inequality, citing inequities in the housing system, as well as decrying restrictions to voting rights.

“Economic justice is not — and has never been — sufficient to ensure racial justice. Owning a home won’t stop someone from burning a cross on the front lawn. Admission to a school won’t prevent a beating on the sidewalk outside,” Warren declared. “The tools of oppression were woven together, and the civil rights struggle was fought against that oppression wherever it was found — against violence, against the denial of voting rights and against economic injustice.”

Warren’s address, delivered at the Edward Kennedy Institute in Boston, was perhaps the most full-throated endorsement to date by a federal lawmaker for the ongoing protest movement, and it drew immediate praise from some of the most visible activists.

Read Warren’s speech in full here.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson

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