BLM’s co-founder steps down amid financial anomalies [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Amid criticisms over her ‘excessive’ lifestyle, Black Lives Matter (BLM) Global Network Foundation co-founder Patrisse Cullors announced her resignation on Thursday.
• Cullors said that she would now focus on coming up with a book and a TV gig.
• Critics have accused the organization of overspending and lack of transparency over its expenditures.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) Global Network Foundation co-founder Patrisse Cullors announced Thursday that she would quit her post as executive director, following criticism of her glamorous lifestyle.

Cullors said that she will now concentrate on writing a book and locking in a TV deal. Her last day was on Friday. 

“I’ve created the infrastructure and the support, and the necessary bones and foundation, so that I can leave,” the group’s co-founder said, who headed the organization for almost six years. “It feels like the time is right.”

Cullors’ resignation came amid ongoing issues of the organization’s financial resources and hers. Last month, proper records revealed that she allegedly had a ‘buying spree’ of real estates where she bought four high-end houses in the US worth over $3.2 million.

She, however, pointed out that her resignation was already ‘in-the-works’ for some time and was not related to those accusations against her.

“Those were right-wing attacks that tried to discredit my character, and I don’t operate off of what the right thinks about me,” the 37-year-old artist and activist said.

In February, the foundation said that it accumulated more than $90 million funds last year following the infamous fatal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020. Floyd was a victim of police brutality where ex-police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, resulting in his passing.

The BLM movement reported a balance of over $60 million for the year 2020, after allocating its resources on operations and sponsorship to black-based groups and other charities.

For critics, they argued that the resources should have been given more to the families of black victims who had struggled to have the means in order to cope with their current living conditions following the tragic loss of their loved one.

Oklahoma City BLM chapter President and #BLM10 representative Rev. T. Sher Dickerson, who is part of the nationwide groups denouncing the foundation’s overspending and lack of transparency, called such incident as the “most tragic aspect.”

“I know some of (the families) are feeling exploited, their pain exploited, and that’s not something that I ever want to be affiliated with,” he added.

In response, Cullors said that the foundation does support Black families without showcasing it in public.

Source: New York Post