The Black Lives Matter organization is under fire from leftist activists who argue the foundation should give some of the $100 million it raised last year back to its supporters.
Today our co-founder, #Ferguson frontline organizer @VanguardTNT alongside #MikeBrown‘s father demands 20 million from #BlackLivesMatter in order to continue the work they and other have been doing since the uprising since 2014. pic.twitter.com/4rDA28ZKnB
— TheIBFA (@THEIBFA) March 2, 2021
Michael Brown Sr., the father of the 18-year-old killed in 2015 while charging toward police in Ferguson, Missouri, called out BLM in a press release this week, asking, “Where is all that money going?”
Ferguson activists want $20 million from the organization to “provide mutual aid and programs for the black community as well as establish a community center in honor of Mike Brown Jr. to serve the community,” Brown Sr. said in a press release.
“We just hope that the black lives in Ferguson still matter to the movement,” said the release. “We shall see.”
The criticism follows a recent report that BLM raised more than $90 million last year.
Only $8.4 million was spent on expenses, and another $21.7 million was allocated for grants to left-wing activist and local Black Lives Matter groups.
BLM also said it spent $2 million on elections-related funds. That means BLM sat on more than $60 million in unspent money.
Several other local BLM branches also demanded accountability from national leaders in regards to spending.
“To the best of our knowledge, most chapters have received little to no financial support from BLMGN since the launch in 2013,” the chapters said in a letter published late last year.
“It was only in the last few months that selected chapters appear to have been invited to apply for a $500,000 grant created with resources generated because of the organizing labor of chapters,” said the letter. “This is not the equity and financial accountability we deserve.”
