Black Lives Matter hit with grassroots revolt

 

 

 

Black Lives Matter is facing a rebellion within its own ranks as regional affiliates seek greater control over the movement and demand answers on where the millions in donations have gone.  Ten local chapters of the Black Lives Matter movement released a public statement on Monday outlining deficits in leadership, organization, and financial accounting of the BLM national umbrella organization, the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN) Foundation. BLM national doesn't want to hear it.

 

 

“For years there has been inquiry regarding the financial operations of BLMGN and no acceptable process of either public or internal transparency about the unknown millions of dollars donated to BLMGN, 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.

In addition to the D.C. chapter, the missive was signed by affiliates in Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, New Jersey, New York’s Hudson Valley, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, San Diego and Vancouver, Washington state. The chapter in Louisville, Kentucky, said it supported them.

 

 

Black Lives Matter has always been highly decentralized, even disorganized — not every group with “BLM” in its title is affiliated with the national foundation — but the chapters said there was an expectation that the leadership “would support us chapters in our efforts to build communally.”

Despite that, “our chapters have consistently raised concerns about financial transparency, decision making, and accountability,” reads the statement, which faults the national organization for enacting major changes without consultation such as the recent formation of BLM Grassroots.

  BLM Grassroots “effectively separated the majority of chapters from BLMGN without their consent and interrupted the active process of accountability that was being established by those chapters,” the statement reads.

 

 

Then there’s the money, or rather, where’s the money?

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 GNF 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.

 

 

 Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and ends as a racket