Below is my column in USA Today on the investigations into the finances and tax status of Black Lives Matters. As these inquiries expand, co-founder Patrisse Cullors is scheduled to speak in favor of defunding school police in Los Angeles. Many, however, are still seeking answers from Cullors’ time at BLM and what happened to millions in donations given by corporations and citizens. Cullors previously called capitalism a tragedy worse than Covid, but this is one tragedy that could have been avoided.
Here is the column:
The California Department of Justice recently issued a notice to Black Lives Matter not only that it was in violation of state law over the failure to disclose financial records, but also that its leadership could be personally liable for the resulting fines for failing to account for $60 million in donations.
Indiana also is questioning the organization, and Amazon has suspended BLM donations due to concerns over the handling and reporting of donations by the group’s leadership.
The problem is determining who that leadership is on an organization racked by internal conflicts, resignations and scandals.
The move, however, highlights a glaring contrast to how state officials have treated BLM as opposed to the far more aggressive efforts targeting organizations like the National Rifle Association. New York is seeking to dissolve the NRA for some of the same allegations leveled against BLM, including the use of funds by BLM officials for personal benefits.
The perils of growing too fast
Businesses are often warned of the perils of growing too fast. That may seem counterintuitive, but success can bring serious problems if growth outstrips capabilities or production. BLM is a case study of that danger. After the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, corporations frantically moved to establish their standing as anti-racist organizations. BLM became the vehicle for such corporate bona fides.
Millions of dollars poured into BLM coffers as endorsements of the organization adorned everything from NFL helmets to corporate websites. BLM leaders were given lucrative corporate deals, including co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who inked a contract with Warner Bros. to help guide and develop programming across its platforms.
It was a sudden and ironic change for an organization that continues to support boycotts of white-owned businesses. Cullors insisted that she and her BLM co-founder “are trained Marxists. We are super versed on, sort of, ideological theories.” She has denounced capitalism as worse than COVID-19. Yet, companies like Lululemon rushed to find their own “social justice warrior” while selling leggings for $120 apiece.
None of these corporate sponsors seemed as interested in tracking the millions given to BLM as they did publicizing their donations. Indeed, when some began to raise questions about Cullors buying luxury homes, Facebook and Twitter censored them. BLM itself denounced such critics as “white supremacists” for questioning how these millions were being spent.
However, BLM itself seemed to be run like a college Trotskyite study group despite its long list of corporate sponsors.
Cullors stepped down last year as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, and there have been other resignations that left the group effectively headless. Those resignations might have been tied to the New York Post’s revelation that BLM Global Network transferred $6.3 million to Cullors’ spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2021.
According to The Washington Examiner, BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group paid Cullors $20,000 a month. It also spent nearly $26,000 on meetings at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019.
There is a circular element to these payments. Reform LA Jails, chaired by Cullors, received $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to the consulting firm owned by Cullors and her spouse, according to New York magazine.
When Cullors resigned, two people were supposed to take over as executive directors – Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele. However, neither assumed their posts, and both have said that they do not know who is running BLM.
Two other people remain on the board – Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard.
A victim of capitalism
It is not clear whether there is a pattern of such payments because BLM has not filed a 2020 return, a Form 990, as required under federal law.
Even the issuance of a letter from the California Department of Justice is a surprising move given BLM’s inviolate political position. However, it still leaves a contrast to how Democratic prosecutors have treated another politically active organization, the NRA.
In New York, Attorney General Letitia James is still seeking to dissolve the NRA, which she has called a “terrorist organization.” The dissolution effort is based on the use of donations for private planes and personal benefits of NRA officials.
James, however, has not cracked down on organizations like National Action Network, which has been accused of giving millions to founder Al Sharpton in special deals or expenses. James has also not pursued BLM for reports of special dealing.
I would oppose an effort to dissolve BLM, just as I oppose the efforts to dissolve the NRA. However, the favored status afforded to BLM by the news media, corporations and state regulators has magnified the problems for the organization. There are also obvious free speech and association questions raised by such selective or disparate enforcement policies.
Cullors once declared that “while the COVID-19 illness is tragic, what’s more tragic is capitalism.” The leadership of BLM could be precisely the tragedy of capitalism that she described.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @JonathanTurley
I recently saw this comment made by an 8th grade teacher about George Orwell’s classic book “Animal Farm.”
“Animal Farm is a very well-written critique of how socialist ideals are corrupted by powerful people, how the uneducated masses are taken advantage of, and how the dictator or communist leaders turn into capitalists (just look at China). It’s a wonderful example of how effective the allegorical style/format can be, and a well-deserved classic”
The more things change, the more they stay the same. We may have more gadgets and faster methods of communication but the nature of mankind, at its heart, remains relatively unchanged.
What’s humorous is that I can see a rockbound capitalist writing this critique word for word. The only difference is that in this kid’s heart, he believes that the “socialist ideals” are somehow still achievable, whereas in the capitalist’s, he realizes that they never will be, and that this is precisely why.
BLM and the various and sundry other communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) are the direct and mortal enemies of the U.S. Constitution, America and Americans.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THEN THE LORD SAID
Joshua 6
6 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
Mo money, MO money, MO money.
Though I appreciate the Professor’s respect for objectivity and the rule of law for all, give me a break. BLM has been as crooked and phony and in service of an agenda as the day is long from the start, and has nothing to do with black people except in their moniker. This has nothing to do with equality or equity. The left in America is determined to create a new ruling aristocracy, sending us back to the Middle Ages, and the fact that this is entirely about ideology and control and has little to do with ethnicity is but a triviality. Wake up. The communists and socialists have invaded our institutions – all of them – and that’s all there is to it. And, yes, ironically, they did it with *money*. Condemn crony capitalism all you like, and I would agree, but freedom of market in a modern society where we no longer exchange literal chickens or textiles for goods is a necessity. The ignorance of history spanning the globe, not restricted to ‘white colonialists on the part of all of these willful fools is sad indeed, and it is no coincidence that the people holding all of the representations of said chickens are attempting to wrest control. Again: wake up. Also then again: if the idiotic, virtual fantasyland wherein physical survival is simply a fact and not dependent on many moving parts is something they are so out of touch with as to create all of this mess, then let those new aristocrats starve. Their money can’t buy food that no one is delivering.
Just like the manufactured covid pandemic has little to do with health or safety, but is really about control; so too the race hustling profession has little to do with race, and is really about creating division. And control and division are vital to the Communazi agenda to destroy America from within. So, naturally, race hustling is an exceptionally profitable activity, just as vaxxing the gullible and largely obedient public is. Here are some other notable race hustlers, in addition to the BLM swindlers:
Feldman: you got it right. Race hustling profession. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be proud. They chose the long-haul road to ill-gotten wealth and corporate blackmail. They could not achieve in a decade what the BLM leaders did in a year. We see who the pros are now. And too bad for black people longing for a voice.
A grift only Al Sarpton could admire.
Jonathan: BLMGNF has not been a model of fiscal clarity. That’s too bad because, after the murder of George Floyd, BLM raised the issue of racism front and center–not only in the US but worldwide. The NAACP, the Urban League and hundreds of other Black organizations have never faced such close scrutiny. Keeping messy financial records doesn’t mean the organization has engaged in anything nefarious or involves self dealing. But the right-wing tabloids, like the NY Post and Washington Examiner, are leading the charge against BLM intent on reducing support and influence of a movement much larger than one organization. Right-wing groups hope this campaign will create rifts among Black organizations and tarnish the image of BLM. You have apparently join this conspiracy by trying to smear the BLM by saying it is “run like a college Trotskyite study group”. Taking a page from Joe McCarthy’s playbook doesn’t advance your cause.
Now if you want to discuss self-dealing, violations of state laws and “failure to disclose financial records” look no further than Donald Trump, the poster child for financial corruption. In 2019 NYAG Letitia James ( yes the same Letitia James) shut down the Trump Foundation for illegally misusing charitable money to fund Trump’s political campaign. Trump was forced to pay $2 million in damages to eight charities and the Trump clan were barred from serving on any charity in NY. Now James and Cyrus Vance Jr. are investigating Trump for tax fraud and other crimes. Trump’s accounting firm says that 10 years of Trump’s financial statement can’t be “relied upon”. This is an admission that Trump has been cooking the books for years. Strange you would want to focus on BLM when Trump’s financial malfeasance is just ripe for the picking. That’s the real “Tragedy” you want to avoid because it doesn’t follow the Fox line of the day.
Using known problem areas and shifty eyed double dealers to, as it turned out add up to just another socialist attack on Constitutionalists is still regressing. My term for progressives. I did not The Squat had not been listed.
What are you smoking?
” She’s so fine,and there’s no telling where the money went ! ” ( refrain from ‘ Simply Irresistible ‘ , Robert Palmer tune )
I wonder, instead of giving millions of dollars to an organization which appears at this point to only be a buzz phrase, what if the money was given to veterans and their families? There’s veterans organization’s giving homes, special mobile devices, getting care for homeless vets and medical care. But wait veterans don’t cry foul, they just give all. God Bless them All.
A couple of things: 1. the rules that blm seem to be avoiding are ‘white men’s rule’.
2. These folk don’t have to follow ‘white men’s rules”.
Here’s the reality;
1. If corporations can give this much money to this organization they are charging way too much for their goods and services and or not paying their employees enough.
2. I’m anti blm bc it is a racket who’s leaders;
A. Did not funnel any of this money into black communities to make their lives better.
B. Took the money and hopped feet first into the capitalists luxury trough, from property purchases in majority white communities – could they not have purchased homes in black communities, to luxury stays at resorts in majority white communities.
3. No one is now, after money is all, to borrow from Cheech and Chong, up in smoke, assuming leadership of the org because none of them want to be left holding the bag on misappropriation of the funds.
Remember this black community, your fellow blacks used you, again, and took the money and ran.
Of course Patrice Cullors wants to defund the police. And have the money go to her.
How does capitalism come to be mentioned here, I wonder. Capitalism is Uncle Joe giving startup money (for partial ownership) to his nephew.
BLM has acquired capital. Money is power. The “elite few” — the top 10,000 in net worth worldwide — can buy literally anything. What to do with this wealth? A problem, surely, but unrelated to investment capitalism. They have money that was donated. With religious fervor for a cause.
The problem, then, is that donated money — other people’s money — is so easy to spend. “Invest” in real estate. And, if perchance, one of our leaders could occupy said investment as a home, side benefit.
Money=power. Power corrupts.
Shareholders ought to ask the officers of those corporations why they wasted shareholder money and associated their corporations with grifters.
Events like the squandering of $60MM in donations (and the subsequent ignoring by leftist media) just furthers Americans cynicism towards the system.
Time for a reset.
Under Putin’s “logic”, the UK can reclaim the United States. Putin is an extreme example of what I a mean that people who are wrong should not have any physical might, lest they enforce their wrongness on everyone else.
Except that George III recognized the 13 colonies as independent states and, thus, gave up his claims.
Godmother?
R I C O and I don’t mean rico suave.
We are sanctioning Russia and will not buy things from them. They will pass things onto China and those folks will be the cashier’s for the Russian mobsters.
It will be hard to follow the money on BL thieves. Those who gave are dumb as naves.
Those who stole have stolen a sole. Soal.
After observing your behaviors on here for 3 years, I am speculating that:
1. You have internet access at your psychiatric institution and act out on this blog when on your unscheduled time
2. The homeless shelter where you eat/sleep has internet access for job searches, but you abuse it to get your psych jolts
3. Your psychotic symptoms are treatment resistant to currently available psych meds or you throw them in the flower pot when the psych nurses are not looking
You are only hurting yourself. Memento mori.
Estovir, great post.
BLM Disappearing Money and executives buying Real Estate but none of the BIG FEEL GOOD DONRS care and now we have the Clinton Crowd coming in to assist????? $$$$$$$$$-smell the $$$$$$$ and they hire Clinton Lawyer Elias who is involved in Trump Spying- refer to Durham, running around the country trying to affect the elections and now BLM $$$$$$$$. IT ALL SMELLS
We all know it smells, my question is why we do nothing about it. A purge of the system is what is needed first. Begin with the unionized unelected/unaccountable government bureaucracies that poison our very government.
+1000