BLM says stories about co-founder's new multi-million dollar home are fueled by 'white supremacy'

Black Lives Matter put out a statement on Tuesday in reaction to the revelations that co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors purchased a multi-million dollar home, and questions as to whether BLM was the source of the funding that enabled that real estate buy.

The statement claims that the source of the revelations about the home buy, which were first reported in Dirt, are from conservatives who seek to do Khan-Cullors and her mission harm. Many conservatives, including Candace Owens and Jason Whitlock, were simply horrified that an avowed Marxist would be indulging in capitalistic luxuries.

The statement reads that:

"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.

"To be abundantly clear, as a registered 501c3, BLMGNF cannot and did not commit any organizational resources toward the purchase of personal property by any employee or volunteer. Any insinuation or assertion to the contrary is categorically false.

"Patrisse's work for Black people over the years has made her and others who align with the fight for Black liberation targets of racist violence.

"The narratives being spread about Patrisse have been generated by right-wing forces intent on reducing the support and influence of a movement that is larger than any one organization.

"This right-wing offensive not only puts Patrisse, her child and her loved ones in harm's way, it also continues a tradition of terror by white supremacists against Black activists.

"All Black activists know the fear these malicious and serious actions are meant to instill: the fear of being silenced, the trauma of being targeted, the torture of feeling one’s family is exposed to danger just for speaking out against unjust systems.

"We have seen this tactic of terror time and again, but our movement will not be silenced."

Khan-Cullors was recently taken to task by media who found that the home she purchased was not only rather expensive but that her multi-million dollar mansion was located in the very, very white neighborhood of Topanga Canyon in California.

According to InfluenceWatch, BLMGNF raised about $90 million in 2020, and spent $8.4 million on operating expenses, with $21.7 million given out in grants. Voting advocacy programs cost another $2 million, leaving the international not-for-profit a about $60 million on the books going into 2021.

Income in 2020 was a sharp increase from 2018 and 2019, in which the group raked in $2,622,017 and $3,354,654, respectively. InfluenceWatch recorded that 83.3 percent of those funds were allocated "for personnel, consultant, and travel costs during the three year period from 2017-2019, while about 6 percent were for grants to outside organizations, including to local Black Lives Matter Chapters."

Donors to BLMGNF have included: NoVo Foundation ($1,525,000), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation ($900,000) and Borealis Philanthropy ($343,000). The Ford Foundation reportedly joined with Borealis to create and fund the Black-Led Movement Fund and undertook the goal of raising $100 million in 2016.

In June 2020 shortly after George Floyd's death in policy custody in Minneapolis, Minn. on May 25, BLMGNF announced their plan to create a "$6.5 million fund to support grassroots organizing work at any of its affiliated chapters."

The recipients of those grants in the six-figure range went to 30 grassroots groups, "23 of which 'are led by Black LGBTQIA folks and/or directly serve these communities in places like Chicago, New York, New Jersey, DC, and Alabama.'" Eleven Black Lives Matter local chapters also received operational support. The total sum of these expenditures was $21.7 million.