Black Lives Matter Internal War For Money
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The local US chapters revolted against the movement's central command with its foundation controlling wealth and power.
After years of tensions between the national organization and local outlets, the rift went public this week with the release of a statement by ten BLM chapters accusing the top brass at the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation of failing to open their books or share the wealth with local operatives.
For years, there has been inquiry regarding the financial operations of Black Lives Matter foundation and no acceptable process of either public or internal transparency about the unknown millions of dollars donated to [the foundation], which has certainly increased during this time of pandemic and rebellion, reads the “Statement from the Frontlines of BLM, posted Monday.
To the best of our knowledge, most chapters have received little to no financial support from BLMGN since the launch in 2013, the statement reads.
The Black Lives Matter movement's controlled foundation
listed about $3.4 million in assets, according to a 2019 financial audit.
The signatories of the statement included the movement's representatives of Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Vancouver, and Washington.
In October the foundation controlled by Ms. Patrisse Cullors, Ms. Alicia Garza and Ms. Opal Tometi rolled out the Black Lives Matter PAC, which reportedly plans to raise $500,000 for Georgia’s Democratic U.S. Senate candidates, leading to complaints that the radical social justice movement is rapidly morphing into an arm of the Democratic Party.
Before the protests, the foundation listed about $3.4 million in assets, according to a 2019 financial audit by Thousand Currents, which served as the group’s fiscal sponsor from 2016 until July, when the philanthropic giant the Tides Center took over.
This puts Black Lives Global Network Foundation squarely in the middle of a massive political network, with total revenues that exceeded $636 million in 2018 alone, Capital Research Center researcher Hayden Ludwig said in a July 28 post.
Less than a month after the George Floyd protests erupted over his May 25 death, the foundation had collected 1.1 million donations averaging $33 each, or $36.3 million, according to figures provided June 18 to The Associated Press.