Is Black Lives Matter just a bunch of grifters?

[thebeave]

Opinion: Black Lives Matter needs to get its (real expensive) house in order

Ever since Black Lives Matter became a rallying cry in 2014, Black people knew that the movement could not afford to slip up. Eight years and more than $90 million in donations later, BLM’s national leadership has made a $6 million stumble.

Sean Campbell, writing last week in New York magazine’s online Intelligencer, reported that in 2020, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation secretly purchased a $6 million, 6,500-square-foot mansion near Malibu, Calif., using donated funds. According to memos quoted in the report, the foundation’s leaders settled on a tactic of describing the mansion as both a “safehouse” and a place providing “recording resources and dedicated space for Black creatives to launch content online and in real life focused on abolition, healing justice, urban agriculture and food justice, pop culture, activism, and politics.” Huh?

It was almost five years later that BLM revealed to the Associated Press that by February 2021 it had taken in $90 million in donations. Families of victims killed by police immediately spoke out. “Why hasn’t my family’s foundation received any assistance from the movement?” said Mike Brown Sr., who’s been trying to establish a community center in Ferguson. Samaria Rice, whose 12-year-old son Tamir was shot with a toy gun in his hand in Cleveland, and Lisa Simpson, mother of Richard Risher, who was killed by Los Angeles police, specifically called out the foundation and Cullors, saying, “We don’t want or need y’all parading in the streets accumulating donations, platforms, movie deals, etc. off the death of our loved ones, while the families and communities are left clueless and broken.”

It seems NYC mayor Eric Adams is also calling them out, for a different reason:

'I thought Black lives mattered?' Mayor Eric Adams slams the activist movement over New York City crime

NEW YORK — When asked how his administration would get a handle on an uptick in shootings, Mayor Eric Adams criticized the Black Lives Matter movement Wednesday for failing to mount large-scale protests against ongoing gun violence.
“If Black lives matter, then the thousands of people I saw on the street when [George] Floyd was murdered should be on the streets right now stating that the lives of these Black children that are dying every night matter,” Adams said. “We can’t be hypocrites.”

Adams was speaking on NY1 about the arrest of Frank James, who is accused of carrying out the shooting on a Brooklyn subway car Tuesday, when he was asked about more than a dozen other incidents of gun violence that happened in other parts of the city Tuesday night through Wednesday morning and what he would do to get a handle on crime.

Cracks in the dam are starting to appear. It seems like only a matter of time before the floodwaters appear. I wonder where this is headed.

 

[steve_bank]

In Seattle there were concerned people demonstrating aginst police abuse of power.

From what I saw they got co-opted by several groups.

 

[TomC]

I don't think BLM is "just" a bunch of grifters. Nor do I think that TeaPartier Trump supporters are just a bunch of grifters.

But when poorly informed people latch onto a cause the possibility of grifting goes up enormously. People will take advantage of other people because they can.
Tom

 

[marc]

Scammers trying to take advantage of a popular movement? That is unfortunately very common, and in no way limited to BLM.

The mayor sounds like he is using the usual right-wing talking point to dismiss racist violence, by trying to conflate it with regular crime, or 'black on black crime' as it is usually called. This of course ignores that the reverse could be cited, of 'white on white' crime. And that this is an apples and oranges comparison. One is talking about violence at the hands of government officials that is supposed to be protecting the public, and not held accountable for it. The other is criminals committing crimes. If a criminal is caught they are prosecuted and likely sent to jail. If a cop is caught abusing or even killing unarmed black people, they often face no consequences, unless there is enough public outcry.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Duh! This is nothing unique to BLM. Most "charity" is of far more benefit to the organization than to those it's supposed to help.

 

[Politesse]

"Just" a bunch of grifters? No. Obviously not. An organization entirely composed of grifters would be unable to sustain itself.

 

[TomC]

"Just" a bunch of grifters? No. Obviously not. An organization entirely composed of grifters would be unable to sustain itself.

True.
But that's also true of the TeaPartiers.

Plenty of grifters there, I'm sure you recognize. Can't all be or there wouldn't be any marks to grift.

I have no idea how accurate or complete the story is. But still...
Tom

 

[Derec]

The "trained Marxist" founders and leadership are certainly grifters - the $6 million mansion is not the only piece of luxury real estate they helped themselves with. The rank and file are split between useful idiots and the vandals. And speaking of vandals, they are at it again in Portland (where they know the lefty DA will not go after them) ...

Group vandalizes Northeast Portland businesses, sets dumpster ablaze at police precinct

They are rioting in the name of some new #BLM hero in Michigan.

 

[Derec]

"Just" a bunch of grifters? No. Obviously not. An organization entirely composed of grifters would be unable to sustain itself.

The grifters are at the top - especially the trained Marxists (Marxists were always good at expropriating) who founded the "movement".
The #BLM rabble has to physically loot - the leadership does it via GoFundMe.

 

[Derec]

The mayor sounds like he is using the usual right-wing talking point to dismiss racist violence, by trying to conflate it with regular crime, or 'black on black crime' as it is usually called.

I think you are conflating multiple things here.

This of course ignores that the reverse could be cited, of 'white on white' crime.

Sure, but that is far less common. About 5x less common in case of homicides. That is the tragedy of groups like #BLM. By excusing and glorifying the black thug, they are harming the very "black lives" they purport to help, since most crime is intraracial.

And that this is an apples and oranges comparison. One is talking about violence at the hands of government officials that is supposed to be protecting the public, and not held accountable for it.

Vast majority of police shootings turn out to be justified. In fact, most police shootings involve an armed suspect. And even when unarmed, a suspect can be a threat if he or she fights with police, as that can quickly lead to the officer being disarmed.
Here is a breakdown of the weapons people shot by police had (in 2015).

And even in cases where police shootings are not justified, you cannot jump the gun and assume that it is ipso facto "racist violence". For one, police shoot many white people too, and also you cannot just assume the motive of the officer simply based on his race and the race of the shootee.

If a cop is caught abusing or even killing unarmed black people, they often face no consequences, unless there is enough public outcry.

Actually that is not true. Police officers get prosecuted when they unjustifiably kill somebody. Even when it was an accident, like in the case of Daunte Wright.