CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron commented to New York magazine about Black Lives Matter’s $60 million in cash left over from fundraising in 2020, saying BLM was like a “giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction.”
Indeed, no one — including any of the so-called “leaders” at Black Lives Matter — knows who’s in charge of that money.
Reason.com:
That $90 million is an impressive total. But according to multiple media reports, two-thirds of it—$60 million—remain unspent. What was spent, and how it was spent, also raises serious questions. And then there’s the biggest mystery of all: Who is currently in charge of BLM? No one, it seems, has any idea. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is, as far as anyone can tell, leaderless. The founders are no longer involved, and the people they supposedly installed to succeed them never actually took the job.
BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors came under fire for purchasing several homes in California just as the George Floyd protests began to ratchet up. The California real estate market being what it is, the homes cost Cullors several million dollars.
When questions began to be asked, Cullors film flam was exposed.
In a statement, BLM said that all of this was on the up and up: “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.”
Like many activists, she used the notoriety she gained from being the public face of the riots and protests to garner a book deal, speaking gigs, and work with a media production company to develop films and TV programs to promote BLM. The avowed Marxist is now a multimillionaire.
But who’s in charge of all that cash she and the other BLM founders left behind? Your guess is as good as mine.
In May 2021, she announced that her successors would be Makani Themba, chief strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies, and Monifa Bandele, chief operating officer at Time’s Up Foundation.
But just a few months ago, in September, Themba and Bandele released a curious statement: Neither of them had ever assumed the role. They had not been able to “come to an agreement with the acting leadership council” and had ultimately declined the position.
Thanks to everyone for your support. pic.twitter.com/E268EUpVo4
— Makani Themba (@Makani_Themba) September 3, 2021
Themba later clarified that she had never had access to any of the funds and didn’t know how the money was spent.
Who did?
According to The Washington Examiner, the remaining board members of BLMGNF are Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard. Bowers, “served as the treasurer for multiple activist organizations run by Cullors, including BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group that paid Cullors $20,000 a month and dropped nearly $26,000 for ‘meetings’ at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019.”
Power to the people, man! Well…at least some of the people.
Dare I mention the idea that if BLM was a far-right group and this sort of thing happened, the state attorney general of California would be all over this thing, demanding answers, subpoenaing records, casting aspersions right and left.
But this is the holy of holies — the sainted Black Lives Matter And No Others movement, and the AG has suddenly come down with a case of chronic incuriosity.
Someday, someone will examine that bank account and, to no one’s surprise above the age of six, it will contain considerably less than $60 million.
If it contains anything at all.
Source: PJ Media
