This election will be the first in eight years in which a black candidate will not be receiving the nomination for either the Republican or Democratic party. As President Obama is poised to leave office, his historic run ending in what seems like a torturous close, minority Americans are left to look at the monumental feat they’ve accomplished and question where to go next.

Comprising more than half of the 2008 democratic primary voters, black voters especially have found what Slate writer Jamelle Bouie has called a “newly activated” voice in the polls, as Obama’s dedication to reaching the black community fostered a consistent and dedicated voter base in both of his campaigns and in the current voting pool.

The influence of this has been felt so far, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s proclaimed “southern firewall” of black voters has propelled her to win up to 90 percent of black votes in most southern states, where black voters comprise significant portions of the overall vote.

This discrepancy is what perhaps led Senator Bernie Sanders to emphatically proclaim “We will end institutional racism” during the demorcatic debate in Flint, Michigan, as he continued to describe the influence of Black Lives Matters and white privilege in his monologue.

“When you’re white, you don’t know what it’s like to be living in a ghetto,” Sanders said. “You don’t know what it’s like to be poor. You don’t know what it’s like to be hassled on the street and dragged out of a car.”

The University of Oregon has seen its own Black Lives Matter influence on campus, as the Black Student Task Force held a rally this past November for solidarity with the movement because the racial environment at the university has led students to feel like it is difficult to “succeed and grow.”

The national discontent with this country’s racial environment seems to mirror the university’s, as both Sanders and Clinton have had speeches interrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters in an effort to spread the influence of black voices in politics.

Since such encounters both candidates have been forced to take a stance on the growing movement—Sanders has even hired a leading figure in the movement to his staff.

Both were asked, “Do black lives matter?” on the national debate stage earlier this election season. Sanders’ statement in Michigan has just continued the bold, blunt rhetoric of the election thus far. The positive result of this conversation is that it shows the willingness of candidates to address race and racism without the feeling that a minority candidate requires it.

Many critics of Obama’s campaign believed that the numbers of black voters he attracted in his two presidential runs would die off once the historic factor of his election had faded. However, this election, although drawing in smaller numbers of primary voters, has shown that black voters encompass just as much influence as they did when Obama was running.

But the nature of the conversation has changed dramatically.

Compare both candidates websites: Clinton’s features more keyword topics like the “school-to-prison-pipeline” and “mass incarceration.” It is much more traditional in the sense that it formalizes systemic racial issues and presents them in a political vernacular.

Sanders’ racial justice page, conversely, immediately opens up with the words “Physical Violence,” and beneath this banner is the names of 14 men and women that were unarmed and killed by police in the past several years. This is perhaps representative of the nature of racial politics in this election, as the formalized political jargon has given way to blunt, passionate rhetoric.

While Sanders’ has been able to speak about racial violence with an impassioned voice, this approach has not earned him the votes that he will need to overtake Hillary. One lingering hope is that his willingness to speak about race in a way that transcends typical politics will remain in not just this election, but future campaigns as well.