In recent days, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors has been facing a severe backlash “after news broke of a real estate ‘buying binge,’ that saw the high-profile racial justice activist ‘snagging four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the US alone,’ just as questions mount about how national Black Lives Matter spent the tens of millions it collected in 2020.”
As The Daily Wire reported on Sunday, Khan-Cullors splashed out millions on four homes “totaling upwards of $3.2 million.”
In response, the Black Lives Matter movement released a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, saying that “Patrisse Cullors is the Executive Director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF),” and that “She serves in this role in a volunteer capacity and does not receive a salary or benefits.”
Patrisse Cullors is the Executive Director of Black Lives Matter Global NetworkFoundation (BLMGNF). She serves in this role in a volunteer capacity and does not receive a salary or benefits. pic.twitter.com/w43HJOdg2f
— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) April 13, 2021
The statement described a “false and defamatory article being amplified by right-wing media.”
“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,” the statement began.
The organization then explicitly reiterated their rejection of the claim that Cullors received any “organizational resources.”
“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 to the contrary is categorically false,” the statement continued.
Then, the organization condemned the allegations leveled against Cullors as indicative of “racist violence” and as another example of a “right-wing offensive” which “continues a tradition of terror by white supremacists”:
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 outagainst unjust systems. We have seen this tactic of terror time and again, but our movement will not be silenced.
This statement makes no mention of the arguable hypocrisy demonstrated by Cullors, which is the actual subject of much of the criticism she is now facing, which involves her continued claim of victimization despite her apparently considerable personal wealth.