Michael Brown's father and other Ferguson activists demand $20m from BLM ....

[IceWizard]

Michael Brown's father and other
Ferguson activists demand
$20m from BLM after organization
was revealed to have made
$90m in donations last year



Ferguson, Missouri, activists claim they haven't received any of the newly-revealed money from the
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation

They would use the money for a foundation, community center and activism

Michael Brown Sr. says he's received just $500 from BLM-associated groups

Michael Brown Jr. was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014 - 
a major catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement



By ASSOCIATED PRESS and ADAM SCHRADER and
HOLDEN WALTER-WARNER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 11:16 EST, 4 March 2021
UPDATED: 11:17 EST, 4 March 2021




Michael Brown Sr. is among the Black Lives Matter activists demanding
$20 million from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation after
its finances were disclosed for the first time - revealing the group raked
in $90 million in donations last year.

The nonprofit shared its financial snapshot with The Associated Press amid
accusations from local chapters that they are not being given any of the money.

Brown, whose son Michael Brown Jr., was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri,
in 2014 says he and his advocacy group have been short-changed by the
larger BLM organization.


'Why hasn't my family's foundation received any assistance from the movement?'
Brown asked in a statement Tuesday. 

'Who are they giving it to and what are they doing with it?'

Brown Jr.'s death at the hands of a police officer helped kick off the BLM movement.

The International Black Freedom Alliance, which was started in St. Louis and is
affiliated with Brown, is taking up Brown's cause and demanding money from
BLM for local causes.




Michael Brown Sr. (left) is among the Ferguson activists
demanding funds from BLM




Pictured: Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of BLM,
who wants to 'reinvest into Black communities'


The alliance said that 'the momentum from the 2014 unrest and the subsequent
protest that local activists organized for several months after were the catalyst
for the group being propelled into the position to receive the 90 million,' referring
to BLM's take.

It's asking for $20 million for groups in Ferguson - money that would help fund a
foundation in honor of Michael Brown Jr., a community center in his name,
organizing grants and programs for the local black community, it says.

'We just hope that the Black lives in Ferguson still matter to the movement,'
said Tory Russell, co-founder of the The International Black Freedom Alliance.

The IBFA also said Brown has received received only $500 from any group associated
with Black Lives Matter.

It isn't clear that the overarching BLM network has responded to Brown's demand.

But at the time it disclosed its $90 million in funding, the Black Lives Matter Global
Network Foundation said it was now building infrastructure to catch up to the speed
of its funding - and plans to use its endowment to become known for more than
protests after black Americans die at the hands of police or vigilantes.

'We want to uplift Black joy and liberation, not just Black death. We want to see Black
communities thriving, not just surviving,' the organization said in a report shared with the AP.

The recent disclosure is the first time in the movement's nearly eight-year history
that BLM leaders have revealed a detailed look at their finances.

The foundation's coffers and influence grew immensely following the May 2020
death of George Floyd, a black man whose last breaths under the knee of a white
Minneapolis police officer sparked protests across the U.S. and around the world.

That growth also caused longstanding tensions to boil over between some of the
movement's grassroots organizers and national leaders - the former went public
last fall with grievances about financial transparency, decision-making and accountability.

The foundation said it committed $21.7million in grant funding to official and unofficial
BLM chapters, as well as 30 black-led local organizations. It ended 2020 with a
balance of more than $60million, after spending nearly a quarter of its assets on
the grant funds and other charitable giving.




Brown's death led to unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
Pictured: Ferguson on the one-year anniversary
of Brown's death




Protesters looted and burned cars in Ferguson after
officer Darren Wilson wasn't indicted in the death of
Michael Brown Jr.


In its report, the BLM foundation said individual donations via its main fundraising
platform averaged $30.76. More than 10% of the donations were recurring. The
report does not state who gave the money in 2020, and leaders declined to name
prominent donors.

Last year, the foundation's expenses were approximately $8.4million - that includes
staffing, operating and administrative costs, along with activities such as civic
engagement, rapid response and crisis intervention.

One of its focuses for 2021 will be economic justice, particularly as it relates to the
ongoing socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on black communities.

The racial justice movement had a broad impact on philanthropic giving last year.
According to an upcoming report by Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy,
35% of the $20.2 billion in U.S. funding dollars from corporations, foundations,
public charities and high-net-worth individuals to address COVID-19 was explicitly
designated for communities of color. 

Spurring the movement originally was the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, the
neighborhood watch volunteer who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida,
BLM's founders pledged to build a decentralized movement governed by consensus
of a members' collective.

Meanwhile, in 2014, Michael Brown Jr. was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson
in Ferguson.



The death of Michael Brown Jr. is widely seen as a
catalyst for the BLM movement


Claims that Brown had his hands in the air when he was shot inspired the
'Hands up, don't shoot' chant and the unrest in Ferguson was largely recognized
as one of the first major events for the Black Lives Matter movement.

A grand jury failed to indict Wilson in Brown's death and a new prosecutor in
2020 also did not charge the officer. 

In 2015, a network of chapters was formed, as support and donations poured in.

But critics say the BLM Global Network Foundation has increasingly moved away
from being a black radical organizing hub and become a mainstream philanthropic
and political organization run without democratic input from its earliest grassroots
supporters.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors told the AP that the foundation is focused on a
'need to reinvest into Black communities.'

'One of our biggest goals this year is taking the dollars we were able to raise in
2020 and building out the institution we've been trying to build for the last seven
and a half years,' she said in an interview.




Pictured: A Penn State student tapes 'Black Lives Matter!'
over her mouth in December 2014



In 2020, the foundation spun off its network of chapters as a sister collective called
BLM Grassroots. The chapters, along with other Black-led local organizations, became
eligible in July for financial resources through a $12 million grant fund.

Although there are many groups that use 'Black Lives Matter' or 'BLM' in their names,
less than a dozen are currently considered affiliates of the chapter network.

According to foundation records shared with the AP, several chapters, including in the
cities of Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago, were notified last year of their eligibility
to receive $500,000 each in funding under a multiyear agreement. 

A group of 10 chapters, called the #BLM10, rejected the foundation´s funding offer last
year and complained publicly about the lack of donor transparency. Foundation leaders
say only a few of the 10 chapters are recognized as network affiliates.

In a letter released Nov. 30, the #BLM10 claimed most chapters have received little to
no financial resources from the BLM movement since its launch in 2013. That has had
adverse consequences for the scope of their organizing work, local chapter leaders told the AP.

The chapters are simply asking for an equal say in 'this thing that our names are
attached to, that they are doing in our names,' said April Goggans, organizer of
Black Lives Matter DC, which is part of the #BLM10 along with groups in
Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, San Diego, Hudson Valley, New York, and elsewhere.

'We are BLM. We built this, each one of us,' she said.






Who are the leaders of Black Lives Matter?





Opal Tometi accepts the Social Justice Advocacy Award
on stage during the MoCADA 3rd Annual Masquerade Ball at
Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2017


In July 2013, Alicia Garza wrote an emotional Facebook post noting how
she continued to be surprised 'at how little black lives matter,' CNN reported.

Garza's post was made the night before the verdict was expected to be
announced in George Zimmerman's trial for killing Trayvon Martin, a black teen.

Garza's friend, Patrisse Cullors, was inspired to create the twitter hashtag
#BlackLivesMatter on July 15, which quickly went viral.

Garza and Cullors reached out to Opal Tometi to help establish accounts on
Tumblr and Twitter using the hashtag and where users could share relevant
personal stories and information.

That same year, the organization's first chapter was formed in Los Angeles 
with the help of Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies, according
to the BBC.

The death of Michael Brown in 2014 sparked massive protests against
police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri.

Graza, Cullors, and Tometi organized 'Freedom Rides' to Ferguson, transporting
hundreds of protesters who adopted the slogan 'Black Lives Matter' throughout
the months-long protests.

In 2015, a network of chapters was formed, as support and donations poured in.

The group formally incorporated as the Black Lives Matter Global
Network Foundation, Inc. in 2017 and has seen been nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize.

The the network consists of 13 official chapters in the US, plus three more in
Canada, according to the BLM website. Local chapters are semi-autonomous,
Cullors, who became the foundation´s full-time executive director last year, is
the author of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.

She is currently producing a YouTube Originals series called Resist, which
premiered November 18, 2020, according to Essence.



Alicia Garza, pictured, is the principal at Black Futures Lab,
an organization that develops public policy


Garza is the author of The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When
We Fall Apart, which was published in October 2020 by Penguin Random House.

She is the principal at Black Futures Lab, an organization that develops
public policy and helps educate elected officials about legislation that improves
the lives of Black people. 

Opal Tometi, who created a black new media and advocacy hub called
Diaspora Rising, is the former Executive Director of the Black Alliance for
Just Immigration.

Garza and Tometi are not involved with the foundation but continue to make
appearances as movement co-founders.




Opal Tometi attends A Special Screening of Queen & Slim
presented by Universal Pictures at Metrograph in 2019