Black Lives Matter won't endorse 2016 candidate

By Robert King, Robert King

Published December 20, 2015

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015: A Black Lives Matter mural behind the Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, in Detroit, Mich.

Black Lives Matter won't endorse a candidate for president in 2016, but aims to continue confronting candidates, according to the Associated Press.

The activist group has been vocal about police brutality after several high-profile incidents and shootings. It has gained publicity this year for confronting Democratic presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.

Alicia Garza, one of the group's leaders, told the AP that it refused to settle on a preferred candidate for 2016, but plans to continue its protests at campaign stops.

"Black Lives Matter as a network will not, does not, has not, ain't going to endorse any candidates," Garza said in the AP report. "Now if there are activists within the movement that want to do that independently, they should feel free and if that's what makes sense for their local conditions, that's fantastic. But as a network, that's not work we're engaged in yet."