*Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, is catching heat for dropping $3 million on several posh homes in the U.S.
Activist Hawk Newsome is calling for an “independent” financial investigation in Cullors to determine how/if she is paid by the organization and how much she contributes to charity.
Newsome told the New York Post: “If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes.
“It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement.”
He added, “we need black firms and black accountants to go in there and find out where the money is going.”
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According to the Post, while BLM protests broke out across the nation over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, Cullors, who calls herself a “freedom fighter,” “went on a real estate buying binge, snagging four high-end homes for $3.2million in the US alone, according to property records.”
Here’s more from the New York Post:
The self-described Marxist last month purchased a $1.4 million home on a secluded road a short drive from Malibu in Los Angeles. The 2,370-square-foot property features “soaring ceilings, skylights and plenty of windows” with canyon views. The Topanga Canyon homestead, which includes two houses on a quarter-acre, is just one of three homes Khan-Cullors owns in the Los Angeles area, public records show.
Last year, Khan-Cullors and spouse Janaya Khan ventured to Georgia to acquire a fourth home — a “custom ranch” on 3.2 rural acres in Conyers featuring a private airplane hangar with a studio apartment above it, and the use of a 2,500-foot “paved/grass” community runway that can accommodate small airplanes.
Peter Flaherty, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) said: “This voice of the underprivileged seems to be doing pretty well.
“Whenever a figure in the nonprofit sector acquires significant assets in a short period of time, scrutiny is inevitable.
“Black Lives Matter has raised tens of millions from individual citizens and corporate America.
“Donors to nonprofits deserve to know that the money is being properly spent.”
According to the Associated Press, BLM took in $90m donations in 2020.
UPDATE: On April 12, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation issued the following statement to this report:
“Patrisse Cullors is the Executive Director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF). She serves in this role in a volunteer capacity and does not receive a salary or benefits. Patrisse has received a total of $120,000 since the organization’s inception in 2013, for duties such as serving as spokesperson and engaging in political education work. Patrisse did not receive any compensation after 2019.
To be abundantly clear, as a registered 501c3, BLMGNF cannot and did not commit any organizational resources toward the purchase of personal property by any employee or volunteer. Any insinuation or assertion to the contrary is categorically false.
Patrisse’s work for Black people over the years has made her and others who align with the fight for Black liberation targets of racist violence. The narratives being spread about Patrisse have been generated by right-wing forces intent on reducing the support and influence of a movement that is larger than any one organization. This right-wing offensive not only puts Patrisse, her child and her loved ones in harm’s way, it also continues a tradition of terror by white supremacists against Black activists. All Black activists know the fear these malicious and serious actions are meant to instill: the fear of being silenced, the trauma of being targeted, the torture of feeling one’s family is exposed to danger just for speaking out against unjust systems. We have seen this tactic of terror time and again, but our movement will not be silenced.”
The organization also wants you to know that Hawk Newsome is not and has never been a part of the official Black Lives Matter organization, but continues to use BLM’s name even after he has reportedly received multiple cease and desist letters.
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