There has been a ton of controversy surrounding Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors’ lavish lifestyle and recently stepping down amid questions about her finances. But Samaria Rice, the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was killed by a White police officer in Cleveland in 2014, said BLM is all a “facade” and that they are “profiting off their dead loved ones. BLM has done nothing but exploit and encourages division – just like the Democratic ideology.
Rice first shared that she sought the help of BLM in reopening a federal investigation into her son’s 2014 death. She said after a few email exchanges with Cullors, they never managed to have a face-to-face meeting. She joined other mothers in blasting activists Shaun King and Tamika Mallory, as well as attorney Benjamin Crump, for demanding freedom and equality in their speeches while profiting from the deaths of their sons.
When asked about Cullors stepping down from the movement after a five-year reign, Rice said she doesn’t believe she’s going anywhere and that she’s only saying that right now to get the heat off her.
Hawk Newsome, the head of BLM Greater New York City, has even called for an independent investigation into the organization’s finances. It’s unclear how much leaders of the movement make, especially since its finances are split among both nonprofit and for-profit entities and difficult to trace. Cullors’ $3.2 million real-estate shopping spree has been particularly called into question.
“If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes. It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement,” Newsome said.
Rice joined Lisa Simpson, the mother of Richard Risher, to release a list of demands for members of the Black Lives Matter leadership, Mallory’s Until Freedom organization, and others. They asked the organizations to not speak their sons’ names and spend more time educating the parents who lost children instead of rushing to speak for them. She said they were trying to be entertainers and celebrities instead of people seeking real change.
“They should not be standing on the front line like this was they child. You supposed to be uplifting the family, the community, teaching us how to love on each other, not bickering and fighting about who gon’ get the next case or who gon’ be on TV next. It’s a mess,” Rice said.
Rice also posted a series of social media posts addressing how Black Lives Matter “monopolizes” the fight for racial justice. The posts came shortly after activist Mallory appeared with rapper Lil’ Baby to read a poem in tribute to Black people who’ve fallen to police brutality. She, along with Simpson, wrote that they don’t need people parading in the streets, accumulating donations and movie deals off the deaths of their loved ones. Mind you, Cullors just landed a television deal with Warner Bros.
Activist King also sent Rice a check for $60,000 after raising money for Tamir, but she said she’d never asked King to raise the money in the first place. She said she was so “perturbed” by the fact that he used her child’s name without her consent and said she’d never spoken with King about it. She said that the money should go back to the community, as well as counseling and other resources for families to cope, but not to organizers, spokespeople, and media outlets.
Even Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, called BLM a “fraud” and said she’d never personally dealt with them.
In time the truth will come out. BLM has done nothing but helped destroy small businesses and communities. They aren’t doing community work, they aren’t helping victim’s families, and they aren’t engaged in any uplifting programs. Where does that money go? (Besides Cullors’ home shopping sprees.)
