Black Lives Matter Secretly Bought a $6 Million House...

[Mosby]

On a sunny day late last spring, three leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement — Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Melina Abdullah — sat around a table on the patio of an expensive house in Southern California. The women were recording a YouTube video to mark the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, and they discussed their racial-justice work and the difficulties they had faced over the year.

“For me, the hardest moments have been the right-wing-media machine just leveraging literally all its weight against me, against our movement, against BLM the organization,” Cullors said. “I’m some weeks out now from a lot of the noise, so I have more perspective, right? While I was in it, I was in survival mode.” She was referring to an April 2021 article in the New York Post that revealed her purchase of four homes for nearly $3 million. The disclosures had contributed to the idea that there is a disturbing gap between the fortunes of the movement
it’s most visible figures and on-the-ground activists across the country, and Cullors resigned as executive director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation on May 27, within a few days of the patio chat.

“I think they’ve attempted to cancel us, but they have not been successful in canceling us,” Abdullah said at another point in the conversation. “They’ve attempted to say — and I’m just gonna say it — ‘She bought some damn houses. We gonna cancel her.’” Garza cut in with a comment seemingly addressed to critics: “Y’all don’t know shit about what it takes to live in a box here.”

None of the women acknowledged the house behind them. It’s far from a box, with more than 6,500 square feet, more than half a dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, several fireplaces, a soundstage, a pool and bungalow, and parking for more than 20 cars, according to real-estate listings. The California property was purchased for nearly $6 million in cash in October 2020 with money that had been donated to BLMGNF.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/black-lives-matter-6-million-dollar-house.html

[Blues Heron]

1. Why shouldn't they have a headquarters? I don't have the slightest problem with this.

Do you think other charitable organizations own real estate? This seems like much ado about nothing.

[lapucelle]

2. Of course there is no problem with their having a headquarters like other organizations.

The issue is transparency.

The transaction has not been previously reported, and Black Lives Matter’s leadership had hoped to keep the house’s existence a secret. Documents, emails, and other communications I’ve seen about the luxury property’s purchase and day-to-day operation suggest that it has been handled in ways that blur, or cross, boundaries between the charity and private companies owned by some of its leaders. It creates the impression that money donated to the cause of racial justice has been spent in ways that benefit the leaders of Black Lives Matter personally.

snip=========================================================================

Even if everything about the house is above board, the general air of secrecy is out of step with the transparency that is expected of charitable or tax-exempt organizations. The size of the acquisition could expose the group to criticism. “That’s a very legitimate critique,” says Jacob Harold, a former CEO of GuideStar and the co-founder of Candid, an information service that reports on nonprofits. “It’s not a critique that says what you’re doing is illegal or even unethical; it might just be unstrategic. Why aren’t you spending it on policy or, you know, other strategies that an organization might take to address the core issues around Black Lives Matter?”

Even an appearance of impropriety or mismanagement threatens to deter donors and harm the larger movement for racial equity. On this score, some of the harshest criticism of BLMGNF has come from within. Internal emails dating to 2016 show activists voicing concern about how donations were being spent and how the organization was being run, and frustrations only continued to mount. In the fall of 2020, ten city chapters issued a public statement rebuking the global network for its opacity, and the families of some Black victims of police violence have complained that they have seen little of the funds that have flowed to the movement’s most visible facet.

snip==========================================================================

The group informally released a batch of financial information in February 2021, when it said it had taken in more than $90 million in 2020 and still had $60 million on hand. The house was not mentioned. Soon after the report, local activists went public with complaints that they felt unsupported by BLMGNF despite their pleas for help. Two mothers who lost their sons to police violence demanded the organization stop using their names to raise funds.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/black-lives-matter-6-million-dollar-house.html

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/black-lives-matter-global-network-foundation#analysts-notes

[Blues Heron]

3. you dont like the "general air of secrecy" (could the author get more vague?)

guess what - they have serious enemies, maybe broadcasting where they own property isnt the same as say, the local garden club charity?

Get real - this is an attack designed to impugn and smear.

[lapucelle]

4. Charity Navigator gives the group a "?" rating because of the lack of disclosure.

I think people should read the article (which includes the concerns of local BLM groups) before they dismiss the story out of hand as an "attack to impugn and smear".

======================================================================================





======================================================================================

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/black-lives-matter-global-network-foundation#analysts-notes

[Blues Heron]

5. I see Pepsi Co and JP Morgan on the Charity Watch board

Maybe take what they have to say about BLM with a grain of salt? Think there might be an agenda there? Do they own real estate?

Clinton E. Berry
Secretary
Retired Senior Director
Worldwide Procurement, PepsiCo
Purchase, New York

James Vallone
Treasurer
Retired Executive Vice President
JPMorgan Chase
New York, New York

[lapucelle]

7. What does that even mean? People are free to believe that there is a conspiracy between local BLM

activists, New York Magazine, and Charity Watch.org to "attack and impugn" BLMGNF.

I'm not one of them.

[SharonClark]

6. It looks bad because it is bad.

Most start-up nonprofits I’ve worked with rent office space. They also have bylaws, non-profit status from the IRS, Board of Directors, and annual audits.

[Rebl2]

8. Exactly